Paxarette/Pajarete is a very sweet dessert wine from Spain that was once used to season sherry casks until it was banned by SWA decades ago. Many who have had pre-ban sherried whisky have thought that they are better than current versions.
Over two years ago, Scotch Club purchased pajarete from a small shop in Spain and, with much difficulty (and the loss of one bottle), got it to San Diego. With it we began an experiment with six identical casks at Liberty Call Distilling. Three were pressurized with pajarete at 7 psi for 10 minutes and three left as they were. All were filled with the same whisky, made by Liberty Call. After 28 months of aging they were bottled and tasted blindly in an event exclusively for lifetime members of Scotch Club. When the online and offline votes were tallied, the Paxed-cask whisky was preferred by 75% of the samplers.
The remaining whisky has been bottled and is being sold in paired sets of 375ml each by Liberty Call. $60 for the set. Judge for yourself!
