The Hearach Oloroso Cask Matured is the second permanent expression within The Hearach single malt range. It was launched exactly one year after the distillery’s inaugural single malt on 24 September 2023.
It’s the same lightly peated whisky (12-15 ppm), now matured in first fill Oloroso casks. The inaugural release was a mix of bourbon, Oloroso and Fino casks. So far so good, but I have two significant remarks with this bottling.
First, I noticed the label doesn’t state Oloroso Sherry, only Oloroso. That usually indicates the casks were sourced from Montilla, Huelva or Malaga – regions that are allowed to produce Oloroso-style wines, but not Oloroso sherry wines. Simply because Sherry is a protected designation of origin, limited to the small region around Jerez de la Frontera. On the website, they refer to cask suppliers José y Miguel Martín and they talk of “casks coopered in Huelva“. On the other hand there are also a few mentions of ‘Oloroso sherry‘. If the casks were in fact seasoned with proper Oloroso sherry, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t repeat this (rather more prestigious) claim on the official label? Deliberately vague?
My second problem lies in the idealised imagery they use in marketing. They only use pictures of ancient black solera casks, and a bodega that I recognize as the Covijerez cooperative. These images clearly depict casks that hold drinking sherry but I’m not at all convinced these are the ones used to mature this whisky. It’s safe to assume they used the common seasoned casks, which are around 2 years old instead of 50-100 years like the black casks in these overly romantic images. I asked Isle of Harris distillers on Twitter whether they really used this kind of ancient ex-bodega cask, but I didn’t get an answer.
It’s all about transparency indeed
Isle of Harris also explains “We want to be transparent and believe it’s important for whisky drinkers to know what’s in their dram” so I think they need to stay critical to themselves about how they present their Oloroso (sherry?) casks to consumers.
The two images on the left are Isle of Harris’ presentation of what their sherry casks look like (taken from their website). I’ve added the third image to give you an idea of what J&M Martín’s modern seasoning premises really look like. Mind that almost every whisky distillery is using the same handful of cask providers, and there’s nothing wrong with how they are produced. I just think you shouldn’t just use pictures that refer to centuries-old bodegas and the traditional production of sherry wines when you’re really talking about the modern industry of sherry cask seasoning. We wouldn’t accept images of horses with ploughs and windmills either when explaining how barley for whisky is produced, right?
Rant over. Onto the whisky.
The Hearach First Fill Oloroso Cask Matured (46%, OB 2024, 12.100 btl.)
Nose: mildly sherried, with a spicy layer of cinnamon and kitchen cupboards with herb jars, mixing nicely with the minty peat smoke in the background. Roasted thyme, along with some fresh oak shavings. Then hints of walnuts and chocolate. For a first-fill sherry bottling it is rather lightweight, but nonetheless nicely balanced.
Mouth: a herbal kind of peatiness again (mint / eucalyptus), with very light ashes but not a deeply smoky profile. This is matched to some caramel sweetness, more walnuts and hints of orange peels. Softly roasted Mediterranean herbs again, along with light hints of vanilla. Then light liquorice and black peppercorns. Dark honey and subtle leathery notes towards the end.
Finish: a little short perhaps, but still very balanced. Hints of cocoa and liquorice, with slightly tangy clove and warm ashes in the end.
There you go: despite the reservations on the marketing, the whisky itself is really convincing. In fact this raises the bar compared to the inaugural release. The Oloroso influence complements the soft peat really well.
Available from The Whisky Exchange or Royal Mile Whiskies and plenty of other retailers. There seem to be at least four batches at once, distributed to different markets. Some retailers like TyndrumWhisky mention the exact batch number, others don’t. I’m not entirely sure what the differences are anyway.