Cocktails with Oloroso sherry
Oloroso is a dry style of sherry, a fortified wine from the Jerez region, aged oxidatively in contact with air, without a cap of flor yeast.
ABV18–20%
Substitutes for Oloroso sherry
Dry, oxidative and nutty is the profile, and sweetness is the thing to check: bottles under similar names run from bone dry to dessert-sweet. A sweetened one needs the syrup taken out of the recipe rather than added.
On the label
- oloroso
- Fortified higher from the start, so flor never forms and the wine ages in contact with air throughout. That is where the walnut and dried-fruit depth comes from.
- “dry” — and it really is
- 1 to 4 grams of sugar per liter. The sweet bottle is “cream”: oloroso or amontillado sweetened with PX or moscatel to 115–140 g/l. Oloroso itself is a dry wine.
- VOS / VORS
- Certified average age: VOS is 20 years, VORS is 30.
Often confused with
Cream sherry / sweet sherry
The sweet style is the same oloroso with sugar added. Use it in place of the dry one and the drink lands distinctly sweeter: drop the syrup from the build entirely, and a dash of lemon often helps.
