Filey Bay Sherry Cask Reserve Batch #3 is a'Special Release'created by marrying together five Fino Sherry casks full of Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery's unique Single Malt. Sherry barrels like the Pedro Ximénez or Oloroso favoured by most whisky producers might overpower this delicate spirit. But the lighter and drier Fino Sherry influence enhances Filey Bay's peach yoghurt, apricot, fig jam, poached pear, orange blossom and lemon barley sugar character, while adding an oily weight and notes of sugared almonds, honeycomb, chamomile tea and gingerbread. Despite all those sweet-sounding flavours, this is fresh, dry, crisp and quite unique. An aperitif whisky maybe? Or fine choice for a highball? There can't be many counties with a stronger spirit and sense of identity than Yorkshire. Now it has its very own Single Malt Whisky, made from field to bottle in Yorkshire, using 100% homegrown barley. The Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery can be found in the village of Hunmanby, just a few miles from Filey Bay on the Yorkshire coast. It's the county's first ever Single Malt Whisky producer and they do things properly from grain to glass, but definitely their own way. But they did get a little help from the late, great Dr Jim Swan, a celebrated whisky maker who was described as"the Einstein of whisky"and who was instrumental in setting up a raft of other great distilleries, including: Nc'nean, Cotswolds, Kavalan, Penderyn, Kilchoman, Victoria Caledonian and Milk&Honey. He helped them ensure that they were making something unique that reflected the local area, not just a carbon copy of Scotch. The barley is grown in Hunmanby on the family farm, so you can't get much more local and hands on than that. The water is drawn through chalk from deep beneath the Yorkshire Wolds. One of the only things they bring in from outside the county is the oak, for which they source the finest barrels from around the world. The bottles are embossed with a gannet, a fearless bird that has flourished in this part of Yorkshire. We think that's kind of fitting because it also perfectly describes the way we hungrily gobble down each new Filey Bay outturn.£11.71 per 100.00ml