Callington Mill El Sol Single Malt Whisky
El Sol is the first of the three core range Callington Mill single malts, each bottled at 46% (the industry standard for single malt Scotch), and matured in a different style of Iberian fortified wine cask. This one is matured in Spanish sherry casks – my guess is Oloroso, the richest of the dry sherries and the most common for whisky maturation. Here, the sweet nuttiness of the sherry makes itself immediately known on the nose, along with plenty of old wooden warehouse oakiness. These are clearly high-quality casks. Whisky aficionados would describe this as a “sherry bomb” – a whisky in which the character from the sherry cask is dominant. It’s doing the heavy lifting on the palate, too, with lots of lingering golden syrup, licorice and quality oak. It’s a tasty whisky at a good price without being the world’s most complex dram.
