Stereotypes die hard. That might be the only explanation for why one of the world's great wines, sherry, can't seem to gain a foothold hereabouts. It's that dusty bottle underneath Grandma's sink, the all-too-conventional thinking goes.

Well, that perception is changing, in a somewhat indirect way. Sherry cocktails are starting to pop up on drink lists at local eateries. The sundry iterations of sherry (more on those below) add complex aromas and flavors to all manner of libations, whether as a complementary ingredient (often subbing for vermouth) or as the star of the show.

"The whole craft cocktail movement has opened the door for this," said April Amys, who has been teaching classes on sherry in the past few months and has helped local mixmasters concoct cocktails utilizing her favorite beverage. "It gives [bartenders] another avenue, something to be fresh and interesting with cocktails. I mean, how many ways can you make a Manhattan?"

Well, actually, a Manhattan-like drink called the Unappreciated Cache is part of a rollout this week of a handful of sherry-infused drinks at Eat Street Social. The name, said Eat Street craft-cocktail bartender Keith Werner, pays tribute to sherry's status as "the lost forgotten treasure of the wine world."

Elsewhere, Nightingale is pairing rich, sweet El Candado sherry with bourbon and bitters in its Toro Americano. At Parlour Bar, sherries are included with ginger and other ingredients in the rum-based 7 Year Itch and the gin-based Naked Jumping Jacks. Brasserie Zentral has something old (a gin-based Tuxedo), something new (a sherry-based Twisted Tootsie Cobler) and something borrowed (sangria).

Amys, a sommelier and owner of Brava Wine Co., hopes that as the movement continues to unfold here, more mixologists will move from spirits-based offerings to liquor-free, sherry-dominated concoctions.

"What makes those especially unique is when they drive a lighter, fresher, less boozy cocktail," she said, "so you have all the complexity, all the interest, all the characteristics of a regular cocktail. You just don't have the alcohol."

That can work because of the wide range of styles in the sherry world. At the fresher, drier and more delicate end are fino and manzanilla, which also tend to have more salinity and be lighter in color than their fellow sherries. Amontillado and oloroso are darker, richer and nuttier; they often have more sweetness, although oloroso comes in both dry and sweet renditions.

All of these iterations provide layers of flavors that prompt cocktail makers to regard sherry as a veritable spice cabinet.

"It offers bartenders a compete seasoning," said Talia Baiocchi, author of last year's seminal "Sherry: A Modern Guide to the Wine World's Best-Kept Secret, With Cocktails and Recipes."

"It isn't one ingredient; it's 10 different ingredients," she said in an interview.

"What bartenders love is to be able to use it for almost anything. You can use fino in place of dry vermouth in a martini and amontillado in place of sweet vermouth in a Negroni. It can add perceived acidity like you get from citrus. With the more oxidative style, it adds umami and expression. Even just a quarter-ounce or half-ounce definitely changes the aroma and complexity in drinks."

That has helped these cocktails become hot items on both coasts, which was a major impetus for Baiocchi's book. "There has been this almost evangelical feeling in the bartender world," she said. "Cocktails were a major part of sherry's renaissance."

That word — renaissance — is fitting, for this is not part of a new trend, instead fitting into the "what goes around, comes around" mode. Sherry was a major ingredient in cocktails in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with names such as Bamboo, Adonis and Sherry Cobbler dotting menus at upscale restaurants.

After disappearing for decades into Grandma's cabinets, they're back with a decidedly different target audience, Amys said: "people who are looking for what's the next thing."

And now they can find it.

Bill Ward writes at www.decant-this.com. Follow him on Twitter: @billward4.