sulfured casks

[Fionnán]

I've often heard members of the society talk about sulfured casks (I think luke posted something about them after the Bow Street event) and about cask management and i was just wondering if someone could give me some better insight into why this happens and what it is about the casks that makes them possibly sulfury etc. I've had sulfury whisky myself from time to time and complained about the cask but it struck me that i know little to nothing about the chemistry or reason behind this. What gets the sulfur in there/ How do distilleries with better cask management differentiate between a good cask and a poor cask etc? anyways, thanks as always.

[JohnM]

In sherry and wine casks, the bodega will empty the cask, leaving a few litres in for transport to Ireland, scotland or wherever. To stop it from spoiling, they burn a sulphur candle in the cask and close the bung - sometimes this can affect the cask. It's a flinty, burnt matches kind of sulphur.

There's also natural surlphur in the spirit, and the coper in the pot stills helps eliminate this. A different kind of sulphur taste, though.

[JohnM]

... the natural surphur taste in whisky is often described as meaty - this is supposed to be from the production part, rather than the maturation.

There are definitely a lot of sulphured casks, but the amount of people noticing sulphur exploded after Jim Murry emphasised it in his Whisky Bible.

To prevent the taint in their sherry casks, Irish Distillers only import them from Spain during the winter (cold weather, less likely to spoil) and don't sulphur them.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Hi JohnM absolutely correct, IDL pick there own European oak, have casks made and delivered to the bodega. I think the sherry remains in the casks for about two years if i recall. Then they are shipped to Ireland in January with about 4 litres of sherry in them to keep the casks seasoned. They are immediately nosed and filled as quickly as possible on arrival. They ship in January to minimise the chance of the sherry undergoing a second fermentation and spoiling the cask. I think the whole lifecycle can take upto four years before filling. IDL don't allow their bodegas to use sulphur candles, so the 'sulphuring' that some described is often described as a 'meaty'. Because of this cask management policy it is incredible rare to get a spoilt cask and almost unheard of for one to actually get filled.

[bredman]

There are definitely a lot of sulphured casks, but the amount of people noticing sulphur exploded after Jim Murry emphasised it in his Whisky Bible.

I remember my own epiphany with sulphur. I was always sensitive to sulphurous flavours but handled them ok, until, i opened a G&M Cask Strength Series Old Pulteney. The first evening was fine (maybe as i was well oiled already), but on the second evening i was simply shocked at the foul intensity of the bad sulphur. Here are the notes

First fill sherry butt 5470. Distilled 15.10.90.

N: Metallic. This is a first fill sherry butt but the sherry influence is thin. The nose is truly horrendous.
T: Spent matches with a sharp fireworks element. Gunpowder. Rusty iron water, stagnant. Big bad rubber. No more for me, i'm done with this.
F: Weak. who cares as long as it's over.

Comment: Avoid.

The notes were brief as i had already given up. But whats key, and i heard similar examples from other anoraks i know, is when the taste buds have that big encounter, they become overly sensitised to sulphur.

But that isn't the whole story, as not everyone is genetically predisposed to detecting sulphur, it's quite possible that the vast majority of people can not, possibly explaining why some distilleries can have sulphur problems. Just because someone can't smell/taste it, doesn't mean it's not there.