Vodka Aged in Sherry Casks

What happens when you age vodka in sherry casks on a ranch in Nevada? The answer is that you get one of the most delicious spirits that I’ve ever tasted.

Source One Vodka bottle on a Sherry Cask — Source One Vodka Aged in Sherry Casks

I love good vodka. I love sherry, especially the rich and nutty oloroso sherry. I was therefore totally excited to try tasting this vodka aged in sherry casks, a unique new spirit for me.

Bently Heritage Distillery

This experimental vodka is made by the Bently Heritage Distillery, about 20 miles east of South Lake Tahoe, over the border in Nevada. It’s only 45 minutes from Reno, based on a ranch in the small town of Minden (population 3,000). It’s more than just a distillery, though, as there’s also a public house and a tasting room.

Source One Vodka

Bently Ranch, in Carson Valley’s high desert landscape, provides the distillery with the grain for their spirits. They process their own barley in their own Malt House, and whiskies are currently ageing, waiting to reach maturity. Till that happens, the focus is on vodka, gin, and an intriguing-sounding Hecate Cacao Liqueur.

Their basic vodka is Source One, which I hope to be reviewing soon, especially as it got them nominated as one of the Ten Best Craft Vodka Distilleries in the USA TODAY 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards. It’s made from a blend of ranch-grown oats and wheat, and uses water from a historic well called Well One, which is fed by the High Sierra snowmelt. It’s twice-distilled in copper pot-stills, and produced in small batches at 40% ABV.

Source One Vodka bottles on a Sherry Cask — Before and After!

Vodka Aged in Sherry Casks

The distillery then sets aside some of its Source One Vodka and ages it, or rests it if you prefer, for twenty days in oloroso sherry casks. If your only experience of sherry has been the dry, white fino sherry, then you might wonder what flavor this could possibly impart to a vodka in just twenty days.

Oloroso sherry is a darker sherry with a wonderfully rich flavor, tasting of walnuts and spices and all manner of other wonderful things. Whoever thought of taking these ex-sherry casks and using them to age vodka in deserves a medal – well, in fact they’ve already won several medals for this vodka in various competitions, and I’m not in the least surprised.

Tasting Vodka Aged in Sherry Casks

The bottle is simple but elegant, with several faces to it, and an equally simple label. The vodka inside is a beautiful and rich brown color, just like oloroso sherry. On the nose it’s fantastic, with all the nutty and spicy aromas of oloroso, with a vanilla creaminess from the super-smooth vodka, and light floral notes too.

It’s on the palate, though, that the quality of this drink really hits you. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever tasted. It’s got everything the nose promises, and more. It’s nutty, slightly vanilla sweet, floral, peppery and spicy, with fresh fruit too, like red berries and dark cherries. It’s got a wonderful creamy mouthfeel, and a satisfying sherry-like finish. It’s like drinking a glass of oloroso but beefed up with a 40% ABV spirit.

This one demanded a second shot right away, as I simply couldn’t believe the first one. The second was even better, as my mouth was already coated with those heavenly flavors. And I knew right away that this vodka was going nowhere near ice, tonic, or anything else – though I’m sure a good mixologist would work wonders with it in cocktails. It’s also going on my ‘secret’ shelf, and will be brought out only when there are very special visitors, or to celebrate something outstanding.