Aberlour were established as early as 1826, but the at its current location its been ever since 1879. Its one of the bigger Speyside distilleries and also owns their own sherry bodega, so that they always have full stock of fresh oloroso casks when a new batch of A'bunadh is to be bottled. In that matter one could perhaps refer to it as the Glenfarclas of Speyside, but Aberlour is going in the different direction when it comes to bottling younger whiskies. Or maybe not, the Glenfarclas 105 seems to be a big seller these days.
Aberlour-Glenlivet 12yo 40% OB (Square miniature bottle, from the 70's?)
A very 80's looking label, stating that it's a "pure malt", I do however believe it is an authentic Aberlour single malt. The color is golden. It smells rich and dusty, old lady perfume, apple vinegar, caramel. The taste is sweet and light, some spearmint, extremely light, buttery, biscuits, vanilla, honey, toffee. There's also some rustic notes in the background, that old lady's perfume maybe, but its too submissive to the light sweetness.
It's just a bit too sweet and plain: 5.5
Aberlour 16yo 43% OB Double Matured
This one has spent time in both bourbon and sherry casks. amber orange hue. It smells withdrawn, no excessive odors in this one. Really tame, perhaps some cardboard, dustbags, hay and salt water. The taste is light and fruity, some carrot, nuts, cucumber, lettuce, mozzarella cheese, extremely light again. I do think this one is even lighter than the 12yo. Perhaps a very good beginners dram. I must say I don't like that term "beginners dram". As if I should presume one that never had tried whisky before would like a spineless no-thrill speysider as opposed to a heavy CS Laphroaig? Just because he hasn't tried whisky before? My first whisky ever was a Smokehead 12, and to this day I still consider it a great beginners-dram.
Good one, but very undemanding: 4.5
Aberlour 19yo 1990-2009 54.5% Malts of Scotland
From a sherry hogshead. Light red/brown color. It smells rubbery, cooked blueberries, hand soap, dry sherry, cod liver. I am already thinking this is gonna need some water to release some fruit from this otherwise bitter dram. But I have not tasted yet. It tastes very nice indeed, plums, sherry, tomatoes, phenolic, drying, zinfandel wine. The bitter drying licorice and honey ending fulfills this whisky's potential and makes for a great everyday dram. A great SHERRIED everyday dram that is.
They are few and far between these classic sherried whiskies nowadays: 7
Aberlour 14yo 1989-1993 56.8% James MacArthur's
Light white wine color, I don't see much independently bottled Aberlour around. That, and not much Aberlour at this light color. It smells apple vinegar, apple cider, white wine, dried fruits, boiled lentils, bacon, a big surprise that shows of apples and white wine, before that big Aberlour sweetness comes to play. The taste is rich and drying, al lot of both unripe and ripe green apples, some green grapes as well and sort of modest, earthy, boiled black beans and lentils finish. This is by far not a archetypical Aberlour, but still its a very generous and rich whisky, as one could expect it to be. If this is the alternative to them rich oloroso notes that usually dominates the standard Aberlour, I'll say it is a pleasant variation, and maybe a needed one as well. And white some cask sediments ion this as well.
A well chosen cask, bottled right between savage and noble, where I like it: 8
Aberlour NAS 57.1% OB "100proof"
Back in the days one could assume a 100, 80 or 70 proof bottling to be bottled for the american market, such it is no longer. And I can see why, "100 Proof" sounds just a bit more Punk Hollywood than, in this case, "57.1% vol.". This has the color of peach tea. I can already see a comparison to the standard OB's called A'bunadh,due to the visible similarity, the same alcohol content and both carrying no age statement. It smells sweet, honey and milk chocolate, almost a bit too dessert-like. Kinda reminds me of some old HP without the peat, or even some extreme oloroso without the phenolic bits. Some say phenols is a no-no, I think it's a no/yes. At first one might not like it, but when taking in the whole of the whisky, you might see, it all interacts to make the dram. It's like a contrasting painting with an ugly backdrop, making that blue square in the left corner ever so much prettier. Contrast is needed in a good whisky, if not it just be a bit dull, and unfortunately, so far this one is. Pretty perfect, but still dull. The taste is The taste is very concentrated on herbs, green tea, tonic water, cinnamon buns, licorice liqueur. Adding water. Now it becomes more mundane, more of what the nose might pretext.
A good whisky, but a bit unchallenging, in rum territory: 7
Aberlour NAS 59.8% OB A'bunadh #39
I think this is the most recent batch when tasting note's due. I think 'till this day, A'bunadh has been the one single most successful NAS-bottling from any distillery in Scotland. Perhaps looking apart some Ardbegs, but them are often based on older stock, while this is all yesterdays cut. Or maybe not, who knows, but that's the impression they leave. About the same color as the 100 proof, one of the lightest A'bunadhs I've come across thus far. It smells very light, some prickly oaky notes. Not much more to say really. Opens up on some minty notes, phenols, ginger and cole slaw after a while. The taste is heavy and rich, peppery, creamy, rhubarb, ginger, oaky, sporty, bitter. A'bunadh seems to always offer and unsong song, but in this case I'm not sure it works. It needs some sweetness.
It shows there's a bit too much "raw" whisky in this one: 5
Next tasting: #8 Classic Malts
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