
January 4, 2017

Two excellent wined Aberlour

Probably quite wine-influenced, these two. Aberlour takes wine, whether fortified or not, quite well in my experience. Right, not quite merlot or cabernet-sauvignon, let’s not exaggerate.

Aberlour 11 yo (48.7%, OB, The Whisky Lodge Edition, first fill oloroso butt, cask #96352, 610 bottles)

Aberlour is the #1 single malt in France, while The Whisky Lodge is one of the top whisky shops. What could go wrong? Colour: amber. Nose: ultra-classic sweet sherry, with prunes, raisins, chestnut honey, Christmas cake, a bit of cured ham, and pipe tobacco. Extremely neat and easy. Mouth: indeed, a prune-y and raisiny sherry, slightly liqueury, with good liquorice and a good slice of Christmas cake. Perfect body, and a huge easiness. A wee feeling of Mars bar sprinkled with Ovaltine. Finish: rather long, with even more prunes, roasted raisins, and again a little liquorice in the aftertaste. Comments: one of this year’s easiest sweet sherry monsters. Very well done Whisky Lodge! SGP:641 - 86 points.

Aberlour 10 yo 2006/2016 (56.6%, Single Cask Collection, cask #103)

We’re in Austria this time. Colour: gold. Nose: a straighter, rather more mineral sherried Aberlour, less straight-sherried, and perhaps a little more complex. Some cut grass, a wee grappa-ish side that’s very pleasant here, some menthol, dried apricots… So a rather ‘funny’ one, most pleasant. With water: humus and mushrooms! Always liked that. Old musty wine cellar. Mouth (neat): excellent, malty and slightly Sauternesy, with raisins, apricots, honeydew, and a dollop of maple syrup. A pinhead of fir liqueur. With water: sharper and brighter. Oranges and Timut pepper. Finish: quite long, very clean, fruity, and delicately mentholated. Comments: some good tricks may have been played on this baby. With excellent results, should I add. SGP:651 - 88 points.

(Merci Fabien!)

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