Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Single Cask Strength

03/2019 94€ LMDW

I've had a few Kavalans now and they've all been yeah not to bad...but. This has none of the but about it. Initially I thought argh its going to be weird dr pepper sweet cherry thing going on based on the nose and yes there is a bit of that going on but its very well balanced by the rest of the components. I finally get what Kavalan is about with this drop. Rich wooded sherry, tabbaco leaves, prunes, burnt caramel, creme brulee cherry and a load more. This is very very good. The colour is like a rich pinot noir wine and the nose subtlety hints at the underlying flavours without any ethanol blast, nor on the palate. The aftertaste is slightly sickly cherry sweet which takes it down a notch and I dunno if I could drink loads of this, I'm more a dryer Oloroso sherry Finish person than PX style. Pure ongoing drink ability I'd rate lower perhaps in the 4 - 4.25 level but on overall quality and experience it's a 4.5. It reminds me of the Bruch Black Art 4.1 in a way...profile completely different but a great dram marred slightly by the over sweetness. Still I demolished the dram in record time with only a few drops of water to accentuate the flavour. Very, very well done.