Sherry

Drinking Sherry at the Dinner Table

Sherry is often used as an aperitif at the dinner table because it is an excellent way to open the palate to all of the flavors that will be enjoyed over the course of the evening. It is a fortified wine that is made using white grapes, typically that have been grown in Spain, though you can find them throughout various countries now. The fermentation process is very similar to that of wine, with the difference being that it is then fortified with a little bit of brandy. You can find that all sherries are dry, though you can find sweet ones, though that is added a little bit later.

Cocktails Using Sherry

There are many different cocktails that use Sherry, though you may want to just enjoy it all by itself, too. The cocktails that are made with this liquor are usually because it is a low grade one and people are looking for a way to disguise the flavor. It works in the same way as a good Scotch – you wouldn't want to mix too many things into it because then you lose the richness that the distillers have worked so hard at infusing inside of the sherry.

That said, if you do want to make cocktails using sherry, you typically want to serve them chilled, but not frozen. You can do this by adding the sherry to a cocktail shaker with ice, adding in the other ingredients and then straining it into a glass to be enjoyed.

Where to Buy Sherry

Sherry is commonly sold in grocery stores and liquor stores throughout the country. One thing you want to be careful of when you are buying sherry at a grocery store is that you are buying it in the wine section and not in the grocery aisles. The main keyword you want to avoid is the word "Cooking" – if you see this on the bottle, leave it on the shelf. A cooking sherry is going to be very dry and a very low grade sherry. It is usually made with the leftovers that weren't good enough to be bottled. In addition, it hasn't fermented as long and so there is very minimal alcohol content inside of the bottle. This means that you, in most cases, don't even need to show ID to purchase it – you don't want to drink this one straight!

 

There are many different kinds of sherry on the market. Some have been made with palomino grapes while others have been made with muscatel grapes. You can get the dry, light ones that are categorized as finos or a darker, heaver one that is referred to as an oloroso. Some are also bottled inside of a cask, giving a richer, oakier flavor to them once they are poured.

 

If you have never had sherry before, you may want to find a liquor store or wine bar that offers a tasting so that you can determine what your preferences are before you spend a bunch of money on something that you aren't sure if you'll like it. If there's none in your area, then start with an affordable bottle and begin engaging your senses slowly.