July 31, 2015

More newish Aultmore

Bacardi have recently come up with a quasi-clone of Diageo’s very successful Classic Malts series, with Craigellachie (I think we’ve tried them all), Aberfeldy (we’ll soon try those), Brackla (ditto) and Aultmore. They’ve called this series ‘The Last Great Malts’, which I find a little dooomy and gloomy. As my marketing masters used to say, ‘you can’t build anything positive using a negative image’. But that was a long time ago, and the series seems to be successful, so… let’s try some of these new Aultmores!

Aultmore 12 yo (46%, OB, +/-2015)

I have to say I find the packaging totally superb. Well done Stephen and gang! The strength is cool too, and so is the colour. Colour: white wine. Nose: starts with cider and beer, in a very fresh, country-inspired manner. It’s not one of these sexy-commercial-travel-retail Speysiders at all, rather a pure and slightly raw expression of all things malty, grassy, and mineral. Apple peelings, rhubarb, wet limestone, candle wax… This is malt whisky! Mouth: it’s full and fresh, with oranges and, once again, rhubarb, plus some honey and a drop of tinned pineapple juice. Rather fruitier, but body and structure remain firm and ‘honest’. Excellent maltiness. Finish: quite long, maltier, with roasted peanuts, cider apples, and malty ale. Malty and mineral aftertaste. Comments: it’s funny, but this feels like an independent bottling. Very malty and pretty elegant. Kind of un-commercial, in a way. Beats many entry-level Speysiders in my book. SGP:452 - 83 points.

Aultmore 25 yo (46%, OB, +/-2015)

A stunning packaging again, rather ‘elite’, and maybe just a wee tad ‘Balvenie’. Well, probably not. And it’s great that they haven’t used fake decimals for the ABV, as is customary elsewhere. You know, 45.9%, 46.1%... Having said that, it’s very pricey whisky (420€) so it better be good. Colour: full gold. Nose: yes! Artisan ales, cigars, smoky teas (lapsang stuff), roasted malt and nuts, a little burnt oak, apples from last year, brown toasts, Van Houten’s cocoa powder, dried porcinis… It’s a big style, very malty and ‘burnt’, which is absolutely great on the nose but that may suggest a palate that could be ‘too big’. Yes that’s possible, let’s see… Mouth: indeed it starts a little burnt and ‘stouty’, with some brownies, chocolate cookies, toasts, roasted pecans, a lot of malt and quite some artisan chocolate. I know some officials who would have added a lot of caramel to make this one mahogany in colour, which would have perfectly fitted this profile. But they didn’t, kudos to them. Burnt cake, leather, burnt oak, a little marmalade. I like this really a lot, it’s supremely malty whisky. Finish: long, perfectly bitter and malty, and yet balanced and spicy. It’s only now that a little obvious oak comes into play. And coffee. Comments: very high quality composition, with a distillate that’s maybe not the most characterful ever. I say greatly done. SGP:452 - 89 points.

How about an old indie ‘for the road’?

Aultmore 28 yo 1982/2011 (46%, Mo Òr Collection, bourbon hogshead, cask #2219, 300 bottles)

I’m still mourning the death of this collection. These great people have been right too early. Imagine, bottlings from strictly all Scottish distilleries, including Ladyburn and Glen Flagler (haven’t checked that one). But yeah, lazy people want Ardbeg… In truth, this lovely series was probably too ‘intellectual’. Colour: straw. Nose: brighter than the OBs, smokier as well, this noses like some barbecued apples and bananas. There’s something shaky as well, having said that, like hints of new leatherette, new shoes, new tyres, gravel, basalt, pitch, hay, furniture polish, old motorcycle, cured ham… Sounds unlikely? It is, but it’s fun. Mouth: ah yes yes yes. Firm malty apples, cake crust, myrtle liqueur (haven’t been to Corsica this year yet – what am I doing?), burnt cake, some kind of dry herbal liqueur, artichokes, what we call amer bière (such as Picon, Alsatians use to add it to their beers), bitter oranges… Behind that, a flowery lightness that you could miss if you rush things. Light honey, sugarcane syrup… That’s all very good. Finish: quite long, with an herbal side that makes it even better. Comments: it’s complex, it needs your time and your attention, and it delivers. Just be patient. SGP:452 - 88 points.

Check the index of all Aultmore I've tasted so far

	July 2015
	Favourite recent bottling: Ardbeg 23 yo 1991/2015 (50.6%, Master of Malt, bourbon, 216 bottles) - WF 92 Favourite older bottling: Ardbeg 14 yo 1965 (70° proof, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseur’s Choice, +/-1979) - WF 93 Favourite bang for your buck bottling: Glencadam 10 yo (46%, OB, +/-2014) - WF 85

Favourite malternative:
Trois Rivières 1998/2012 (46.2%, OB, for La Maison du Rhum, Martinique, agricole, cask #C8-200, 272 bottles) - WF 88