Long Associated With Sherry, Solera Aging Is Redefining Spirits and Cocktails

With all due respect to its delectable attributes, sherry feels like the ultimate also-ran in the wine sector: a perennially hyped “next big thing” while never actually cashing in. But now, in this bizarro world of popular drinks trend roulette, it’s sherry wine’s production method — not the product itself — that is currently circling the wheel.

Sherry’s old-school strategy of aging and blending, known as the “solera” system, has trickled its way into all kinds of drinks culture over the past few years as a buzzworthy technique for distillers, mixology pros, and even breweries. And within that cadre, it’s becoming a trendy brand of sorts, a stylistic stamp of solera-club membership.

With enthusiasm for solera’s virtues growing among producers, craftspeople, and aficionados alike, the intrinsically geeky solera system is slowly inching toward potential (drinks) pop culture status.

‘Solera’ in a Nutty Nutshell

To understand the hype, one has to understand the method and its multi-layered appeal. While no doubt existing beforehand in a de facto sense — intentionally or not — with all manner of stored and aged consumable liquids, traditionally, the system of solera aging has been a distinctly Spanish calling card dating back to 1700s Andalusia and its nerdy, nutty representative, sherry.

For simplicity’s sake, imagine a vertical stack of barrels all filled with wine. Each year, a fraction of wine is drained and bottled from the bottom barrel. An equivalent portion of liquid from the second tier then tops up the bottom barrel. An equivalent portion of the third tops up the second, and so on until the uppermost level is topped up with the most recent vintage.

“It’s an economically good system,” says Sam Nelis, former beverage director at the James Beard Award finalist Landcrafted Bar at Barr Hill Distillery, and current owner-operator of Specs Cafe, Bar, and Beverage Market in Vermont. “Anything that gives you an excuse to blend [is an advantage],” he says. This offers consistency to a wine or spirit, while also allowing the liquid to glacially evolve over time.

There’s an enduring intellectual and emotional appeal to it, Nelis explains, as — theoretically, at least — every draw out of the bottom barrel will contain a trace of the first vintage ever made. “That’s part of the allure of selling something done in a solera style,” he says. “[It] brings you back in time, while being in a completely new moment. … It’s never really ‘done.’” It’s that intriguingly interwoven and somewhat contradictory combo — consistency infused with evolution and a dash of romantic nostalgia — that lends the solera technique its alchemic je ne sais quois.

Distillers Stoked on ‘Solera’

While at its origin a “wine thing” extolled by devotees of sherry, fractional solera-style blending and aging has been drawing the attention of distillers.

Iberian brandy and Spanish-influenced rum producers like Guatemala’s Zacapa have leveraged it both as a production tool and key marketing message for decades, while whiskies from Scotland continue to employ some form of the system for certain products. But it’s just now really coming into its own with North American distillers. “It’s an old thing over here in Europe, but it’s the new toy in the U.S.,” says Peter O’Connor, former Diageo master of whisky and owner of Lisbon’s award-winning Onda Cocktail Room.

But leave it to the late, legendary master distiller Dave Pickerell — of WhistlePig and Maker’s Mark fame — to build the first whiskey solera program in the States. His final collaboration, with boutique field-to-glass distillery Hillrock Estate in New York’s Hudson Valley, continues to bottle marvelously unique solera whiskeys as living tribute to his legacy.

“Some solera systems have base blends dating back to the house’s founding — sometimes to the 1800s or earlier. That connection to the past, where every bottle contains a trace of its origin, is extraordinary.”

“While time consuming and very labor-intensive, there’s simply no other way to produce the same results,” says Jeffrey Baker, Hillrock’s CEO and founder. “We were amazed the process hadn’t been used for aging American whiskeys before.” Since Hillrock’s first solera release in 2012, several more U.S. distillers have checked into the game, including big boy James B. Beam Distilling Co. with the launch of its solera-inspired “Little Book: The Infinite” bottling.

Baker argues that its attributes are more than worth the work. “Complexity, consistency, and the ability to evolve slowly over time,” he says. “Modify mash bills, rye spice levels, and more as whiskey from the nursery slowly works its way through the system … [That] can’t be duplicated with traditional single-barrel whiskey aging.”

The resulting complexity is a major ingredient in the special special sauce that makes the method so compelling. Alexandria Bowler, lead bartender at Emeril’s in New Orleans, says she has a soft spot for Spanish brandies produced with a solera system. “They can express notes of tobacco, leather, soy sauce, nuts, mushrooms, and dried fruit. They’re delightfully contemplative and intriguing,” she says, adding that it’s a literal flavor journey through the distiller’s history. “Some solera systems have base blends dating back to the house’s founding — sometimes to the 1800s or earlier. That connection to the past, where every bottle contains a trace of its origin, is extraordinary.”

Ironically, despite the costs involved with labor and initial establishment of a solera barrel matrix, the technique can offer an economic and eco-friendly advantage in getting that precious liquid to market. “Distillers don’t need to invest in as many barrels or wait for decades before releasing a product,” Bowler says. “By blending younger and older components, producers can introduce a product to the market sooner, allowing them to recover their investments more quickly.”

Cocktail Mavens, Tinkerers, and Taters Lean In

As if to prove it can work its magic in just about any context, the solera method has become a darling among ambitious mixologists.

The past decade has witnessed the steady spread of solera aging enthusiasm from its winery and distillery roots into high-minded bar programs in a quest to pioneer new frontiers of cocktail flavor. “I think of solera as a creative tool, like a new color in an artist’s palette,” Bowler says. “Creating something familiar yet entirely new.”

“A small barrel can impact the spirit or cocktail dramatically. I kind of wonder, ‘How long has it been sitting there? Are they topping it up?’”

Vermont’s Nelis embraced the concept while directing the cocktail program at Barr Hill Distillery, and says that spirit-forward creations — e.g., Negroni, Manhattan, Martini, and the like — are particularly well-suited bases in which to infuse solera aging’s umami-centric flavors. “When I would do a solera-aged Negroni, it would also be getting a little oxidized,” he says. “Usually what it adds to a drink is kind of that browning, and with the oxidized notes come some of that funk, nutty, earthy, and it develops. … [It] becomes a little bit softer, and the sum becomes greater than the parts.”

This being said, the system isn’t necessarily appropriate or appealing for all recipes or aging timeframes. Much akin to the clarified cocktail madness that has jumped the shark, experienced barkeeps have learned when to say no to giving a cocktail the solera treatment. “You won’t generally see solera with a citrus drink,” Nelis says, adding that things can get unpleasantly weird when fresh acidity and lower ABV are involved.

O’Connor in Lisbon cautions that a batch can also go sideways in a hurry if cocktail barrel aging of any type isn’t properly monitored with discipline and vigilance. “It will oxidize a bit. You have to be careful. You can always run it through again.” he says, likening his preferred approach to that of intentional under-salting. “A small barrel can impact the spirit or cocktail dramatically,” he adds. “I kind of wonder, ‘How long has it been sitting there? Are they topping it up?’”

He recently learned the hard way over the holidays, as his port– and brandy-based concoction veered to the dark side. “[At first] it was really delicious. But after four weeks, it was kind of horrendous,” he says.

“It’s very old-school, and I think people find that fascinating, … pre-Prohibition-type stuff. This element of ‘old-school equals cool,’ especially for the cocktail world, which got kind of ruined in the 70s and 80s.”

Not to be outdone by the pros, DIY home aficionados and whiskey taters are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to solera-style fractional blending.

Infinity bottles have caught their collective imagination, with a primary bottle — from which glasses are poured — repeatedly topped off with various bottles of the amateur blender’s choosing. This tinker toy of spirits enthusiasts offers an ever-evolving progression of flavor. “The concept of blending multiple brands is very cool,” Nelis says. “[And] that idea that it’s never going to taste exactly the same. … There are emotional and cultural reasons, and fun reasons, to do that kind of thing.”

Can ‘Solera’ Break Through to the Masses?

The big question, though, is can this aging and blending strategy with a surging cult following become a popular categorical name along the lines of “hard seltzer,” “Martini,” “rosé,”or “clarified cocktail”?

Even more so than the flavor aesthetics associated with the method, the nostalgia of the concept may end up its strongest attribute when making an appeal to the masses. “It’s very old school, and I think people find that fascinating, … pre-Prohibition type stuff,” Nelis says,“this element of ‘old school equals cool,’ especially for the cocktail world, which got kind of ruined in the 70s and 80s.”

But is that enough to push it over the edge into popular drinks terminology? Nelis isn’t so sure about that, but adds that he’s been surprised before. “I don’t like to underestimate the general public,” he says. ”They’re becoming more and more enthusiastic about these concepts.”

Celebrity-endorsed, solera-branded RTDs? Or a solera-styled line from Barefoot? Eh, that’s likely more than a stretch. But the term and concept have continued to develop a meaningful, even romantic, association for drinks professionals and enthusiasts. It appears that at least among that set of drinkers, the sky’s the limit for the solera brand.