All Scotch whisky drinkers will come across the term “sherry cask” at some point. It sounds straightforward, but a wide variety of sherry casks are used in Scotch whisky making, from Oloroso to Pedro Ximénez and everything in between. The style of sherry used to season the cask, and how long the whisky spends in it, both shape how the final whisky tastes.
Given the prevalence of sherry cask maturation in the Scotch whisky industry, it is no surprise that the awards landscape is filled with good-quality sherry bombs. But where should you start?
Today I am looking at recent award winners that show some of the different ways Scotch makers use sherry casks, from full maturation to finishing. As an added bonus, all of them come in at under $110.
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READ THE STORYBowmore 9 Year Old
Award: Gold Outstanding (98 points) and Trophy, IWSC 2026
Starting strong with a real value proposition, we have the Bowmore 9 Year Old.
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This whisky scored 98 points at the IWSC 2026, which earned it a Gold Outstanding medal, and it went on to win the competition’s trophy for single malt Scotch under 20 years old. It also took Silver at this year’s International Spirits Challenge.
Bowmore has been distilling on the shore of Loch Indaal on Islay since 1779. The 9 Year Old joined its core range in 2016 and is matured in a combination of American oak ex-bourbon casks and European oak Oloroso sherry butts.
Oloroso is a dry fortified wine from Jerez in southern Spain. In Scotch whisky, it tends to impart nuttiness and dry spice.
In Bowmore 9, there is delicate sea salt, caramel cream, cinnamon, raisins, cocoa powder, and light peat smoke. At around $32, it is the most affordable bottle on this list and a good first step into sherried Islay whisky.
Compass Box Crimson Casks
Award: Best Blended Malt Scotch, Top Shelf Awards 2025
Compass Box publishes the full recipe for Crimson Casks on its fact sheet, so you can see exactly how much of the whisky comes from sherry wood. It is a blended malt made with whisky from Glen Moray, Benrinnes, Teaninich, and an undisclosed distillery near the town of Aberlour. The casks used are first-fill Oloroso-seasoned American oak butts, first-fill bourbon barrels, heavily toasted custom French oak barrels, and refill hogsheads with an ed-red wine barrique finish.
The Top Shelf Awards honor the best-of-class winners from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and Crimson Casks was named Best Blended Malt Scotch at the 2025 event.
This is a rich, jammy whisky with notes of chocolate fudge cake, clove, cardamom, plum jam, and redcurrant jelly, with raisin, honey, spice and brown sugar on the finish.
White Heather 15 Year Old
Award: Gold, Category Winner (Blended Scotch 13–20 Years), World Whiskies Awards 2025
White Heather is an old blended Scotch brand that was discontinued in the 1980s and later revived by Scotch whisky legend Billy Walker’s GlenAllachie Distillers. The 15 Year Old joined the White Heather 21 Year Old in the core range, and it went on to win the blended Scotch 13 to 20 years category at the World Whiskies Awards 2025.
The blend is 47% malt whisky: 20% from Speyside, 23% from the North Highlands, and 4% from Islay, with grain whisky making up the other 53%. The whiskies spend their first 12 years in a mix of American oak barrels, hogsheads, and ex-sherry butts. After blending, they are re-racked into Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso puncheons, along with virgin American oak casks, for another three years.
Pedro Ximénez is a sweeter style of sherry than Oloroso, and sometimes gives that wonderfully fruity, syrupy feel to a whisky.
GlenAllachie’s notes list heather honey, butterscotch, orange peel, pineapple, and mint on the nose. On the palate, expect treacle, grapefruit, almonds, mocha, and ginger, with a light trace of peat smoke at the end.
It is a very well-put-together blend at a great price, from one of the industry’s finest.
Elements of Islay Sherry Cask
Award: Master, Scotch Whisky Masters 2025
Elements of Islay is a range of blended malts from Elixir Distillers. The Sherry Cask combines single malts from undisclosed distilleries on Islay’s south and north coasts. According to the producer, the south coast whisky brings dried fruit and dark chocolate to the blend, and the north coast whisky adds lemon oil and Arbroath smokie, a type of smoked haddock.
The whisky is matured in first-fill and refill sherry butts and hogsheads and bottled at 54.5% with no chill filtration or added color. It was released in 2022 as part of a core range alongside Cask Edit and Bourbon Cask.
At the Scotch Whisky Masters, where Master is the top medal, it won a Master in both 2024 and 2025. Elixir describes it as “Rich and spicy smoke embers enveloped in dried autumn fruits.”
On the palate, you might find dark chocolate-dipped orange slices, stem ginger, and date and ginger cake, followed by treacle toffee and smoky black tea on the finish.
Arran Sherry Cask “The Bodega”
Award: Shortlisted, The Whisky Exchange Whisky of the Year 2024
Arran’s official notes describe The Bodega’s color as “polished mahogany.” On the nose, expect chocolate raisins, mandarin, and a hint of spice, followed by ripe figs and sweet cherries on the palate and pink pepper, hazelnuts, and toasted oak on the finish.
The whisky is distilled and matured at Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. Arran’s launch notes say it was matured for seven years in first-fill sherry hogsheads, then bottled at cask strength with no chill filtration or added color. The distillery calls it “a return to the style of some of the earliest Arran Single Malt, which was mostly matured in Sherry casks.”
The Bodega was one of six whiskies shortlisted for The Whisky Exchange’s Whisky of the Year in 2024. Arran’s owners also run a second distillery on the island, Lagg, which is where our next whisky comes from.
Lagg Corriecravie
Award: Best In Show 1st Place (96 points), Global Whisky Challenge 2024; Gold, Scotch Whisky Masters 2025
Lagg opened in 2019 at the southern end of the Isle of Arran, and the distillery concentrates on heavily peated spirit. Corriecravie is made from Concerto barley peated to 50ppm and bottled at 55% with no chill filtration or added color.
Corriecravie starts out in bourbon barrels. It is then finished for around six months in Oloroso hogsheads sourced directly from the producer Miguel Martín in Jerez. Lagg releases it in limited quantities once a year as the second whisky in its core range.
At the first Global Whisky Challenge in 2024, Corriecravie took first place in the Best In Show rankings with 96 points, and it went on to win Gold at the Scotch Whisky Masters in 2025. Lagg’s notes list dark chocolate and spiced red berries on the nose. On the palate, expect charred embers and hazelnut, followed by charred oak, smoke, and sweet spice on the finish.
When I spoke to Distillery Manager Graham Omand last year, he said: “I think Corriecravie is the whisky I’m most proud of, and the whisky I’d most like to have in my house. It’s the one that’s kind of proved to me that even at a young age, Lagg can stand tall and show what it can do.”
InchDairnie KinGlassie Double Matured 8 Years Old
Award: Best Scotch Lowlands Single Malt, World Whiskies Awards 2026;; Best New Scotch, San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2026
KinGlassie is the only whisky on this list matured in Amontillado casks. Amontillado is a dry sherry made in Andalusia, southern Spain. It is known for imparting earthy, umami flavors, as well as dry spice and dark toffee sweetness onto the whisky.
The whisky spends five years in ex-bourbon American oak casks before three years in the Amontillado casks. InchDairnie is based in Fife, and it distills KinGlassie only once a year, for less than a week each December. The malt is peated to 50ppm with Scottish mainland peat, and the whisky is bottled with no chill filtration or added color.
KinGlassie Double Matured was InchDairnie’s first single malt when it launched in May 2025, and it has won three awards in 2026 alone. The World Whiskies Awards judges wrote: “Ashy with sweet sherry, mingles with raspberry, orange oils, marmalade, toffee, and tart grains like rye bread. The mouth filling palate delivers breakfast cereal, chocolate raisins, and nutty toffee apple with a petrolic hint.”
Which Sherry Cask Scotch Will You Try First?
Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez are the sherry styles most often used for Scotch, but they are far from the only ones. Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, and Palo Cortado are all sherry styles you can find in the Scotch whisky world, so there is plenty to explore once you know you enjoy a sherried dram.
With so many bottles to choose from, awards can help you narrow things down by pointing you toward whiskies that have already impressed experienced judges. They can’t tell you what you will personally enjoy, though, so the best approach is to pick up one or two of these, try them, and see what you think.
Have you tried any of these, or is there another sherried Scotch you would recommend? Let us know in the comments.
