Stranahan’s Sherry Cask Single Malt Whiskey
Mike Rosen

World

February 12, 2024

Stranahan’s was co-founded in Denver, Colorado, by George Stranahan and Jesse Graber in 2004, and in 2006, released their first American single malt whiskey. In 2010, Stranahan’s was purchased by New Jersey-based Proximo Spirits (Jose Cuervo, Tincup, Old Bushmills, Black Dirt Distillery). Stranahan’s website says,“Stranahan’s® Colorado Whiskey is Colorado’s first legal whiskey distillery since Prohibition. This Rocky Mountain Single Malt is handcrafted from grain to glass in Denver, Colorado. Using only the finest resources, our whiskey is made from 4 ingredients: 100% malted barley, yeast, Rocky Mountain water, and time in the barrel.”

The Stranahan’s Sherry Cask bottle I’m reviewing today is Batch 3, released in 2018. I found this bottle on the shelf with two other Stranahan’s selections at a local store. The owner said he’s never sold one before. Batch 3 started out as a four-year single malt and was transferred into 500-liter Oloroso Sherry barrels procured from the Andalusia region of Spain, where they’d been used for aging wine for over 40 years. I reached out to Stranahan’s to answer some questions about the differences I noticed between Batch 3 and their current batch, which they were happy to answer. I wondered why Stranahan’s began bottling Sherry Cask at 90-proof and about the newer batches finished in PX (Pedro Ximenez) sherry. They said, “We proofed Sherry down to 90 early last year. The distillery team thought this brought out the finer notes of the Sherry finish and drank less hot. This is a general trend in our core lineup, as only Yellow label still sits at its original 94 proof. Sherry has gone through multiple blend changes during its 16-batch run. We used to use ex-oloroso, and about 3 years ago, we started blending in PX. This often comes down to procurement and what sherry barrels we can get our hands on. The current batch doesn’t have any oloroso finish at all.” Let’s get started!

Taken: Neat in a Glencairn glass, rested for about 15 minutes.

Distillery: Stranahan’s Distillery.

Proof: 94, non-chill filtered.

Age: 4+ years.

Batch: 003.

Mash bill: 100% Malted Barley.

MSRP: $69.99.

Appearance: Dark reddish copper.

Nose

Upfront is a mixture of berry reduction with peaches, baked apples, dates, malt, and wood smoke. More nosing and time bring out sweeter notes of milk chocolate, hazelnuts, toffee, and molasses, with a layer of vanilla, nutmeg, and sage underneath. There’s just a moderate amount of allspice with little to no proof heat. The sherry-influenced flavors are obvious, but they’re also well-balanced, allowing the underlying single malt flavors to shine through.

Palate

The nose transfers to the palate with mixed berries, peaches, malt, toffee, subtle smoke, cocoa, hazelnut, vanilla, nutmeg, and oak. Like the nose, I love the balance of sherry and single malt flavors. Moderate allspice covers the palate with a creamy mouthfeel. This drinks very easily at its proof but still manages to pack a lot of delicious flavors.

Finish

Allspice lingers on the palate with berries, malt, subtle smoke, hazelnuts, cocoa, toffee, vanilla, and oak. There is some drying towards the end of a very good medium-long finish.

Conclusion

My concern with wine finishes is they’ll dominate the underlying whiskey. However, I’ve experienced this more with bourbon than with American single malts or Scotch. I can’t speak for other Stranahan’s Sherry Cask batches, but batch 3 has a great balance between the sherry and the smoky malt, chocolate, and toffee flavors that I love in an American single malt. While a higher proof point would carry more complexities from the nose to the palate, I’m impressed with how much flavor Sherry Cask packs at 94-proof, and I hope that the new 90-proof point does the same. If you love American single malts, you’ve probably already tried Stranahan’s. If you’re new to American Single Malts or a Stranahan’s fan who hasn’t gotten around to their Sherry Cask, I recommend giving it a try.

Rating: 7.3/10.

1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but better exists.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average.
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite.
10 | Perfect | Perfect.

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