Manzanilla is the driest and most saline of sherries, matured on the coast at Sanlúcar de Barrameda where the Atlantic winds work on the flor as it grows. Finishing a Speyside malt in Manzanilla casks is an unusual choice — most distilleries reach for oloroso or Pedro Ximénez — and Glen Moray has been among the few to make a habit of the less obvious sherry styles.
The 13 Year Old Manzanilla Cask Finish, part of Glen Moray's Warehouse 1 range, takes whisky matured principally in bourbon oak and places it for a period into casks that once held Manzanilla. Bottled at 46.3% ABV without chill filtration, it retains the texture and grip such a finish requires to make itself felt. The nose is immediately distinctive — salted almond, dried apple, lemon peel and a faint whiff of something coastal, quite different from the sweet raisin register of oloroso-finished whisky.
On the palate the sherry influence is dry rather than fruity. Green apple and nutty sherry carry through from the nose, and a clear line of sea salt runs along beneath, lifting the malt rather than burying it. The finish is long, dry and saline, with lingering almond and citrus peel.
This is a thoughtful piece of cask selection, and a useful demonstration that sherry-finished whisky need not always mean sweetness. For the drinker tired of the heavier sherried style, the Manzanilla finish offers a bracing alternative — Speyside with a touch of the Atlantic about it.
