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May 7, 2020

The Confined Sessions
Day 51
More Aultmore

Serge, your headlines just s*ck.

Aultmore 9 yo 2008/2018 (46%, Orcines, sherry butt, cask #900305, 697 bottles)

This baby should be easy. Orcines is a very good wee French independent bottler in Lyons (they belong to famous shop The Whisky Lodge). Colour: straw. Nose: classic good pretty active cask over an average Speysider (in the best sense of the word ‘average’). Which translates into butterscotch, brioche, raisin rolls, malt drink, a few wee herbal touches in the background, it’s all pretty subtle and you could miss them. Wild carrots, lemongrass, verbena… Is verbena related to the fact that Orcines are located not very far from the Alps? Mouth: totally and plainly on croissants au beurre (oui), more butterscotch, milk chocolate, brioche, kougelhopf, the drops of Cointreau and a wee feeling of modern STR. Finish: medium, pretty much with the same flavours, with a little more grass, as almost always in the finishes. Comments: no quibbling, I would say this is very well-made modern young malt whisky that’ll disappoint just no one.
SGP:551 - 84 points.

Good, we’ve also got a set of three young Cadenhead’s that came out last year. Let’s treat them right and fast… ly. Fastly, we speak Whashingtonian now, better believe me.

Aultmore-Glenlivet 12 yo 2006/2019 (56.4%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 282 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: austere and very grassy. This one’s a fighter, we’re far from the Orcines’ relative gentleness. Whiffs of lilies of the valley and grapefruit skin, also. With water: lovely earth! And autumn leaves… Mouth (neat): very good now. Lemons and kiwis with dollops of custard and liquorice cream and wood. Still a fighter, it’s green liquorice in there. With water: texture gets a little oilier. Do any serious makers do some kind of limoncello out of grapefruits? Finish: long and pretty perfect. More grapefruits, globally. Comments: not very complicated malt whisky, but it would just hit you where it needs to. Not exactly a surprise, but there, well, it’s a surprise. Great distillate at a very fair price (I believe). Lovely tension.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Aultmore-Glenlivet 12 yo 2006/2019 (56.6%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 282 bottles)

Aultmore-Glenlivet 12 yo 2006/2019 (56.6%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 288 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: frankly, honestly and sincerely, it is more or less the same whisky, just as tart and full of tension as its sister cask. I suppose they didn’t want to vat them into a ‘Small Batch’ just because of that. Mouth: ditto, no need to add any waters, or any other comments. I think I’ll tell you a little joke instead. A married couple, Paul and Diana, is on the verge of going bankrupt. Paul’s accumulated a huge stash of whiskies throughout the years, especially Macallans and Ardbegs, the whole being now probably worth hundreds of Grants. One good evening, Diana tells Paul that it is time to sell the whiskies to bring the family's finances back on track, but Paul’s very reluctant to part with his cherished collection. So he tells his dear wife “Diana, I agree, but I haven’t got the strength to sell them myself. What we could do is book a stand at a whisky festival, where you could go and sell those bottles yourself.” Diana is game, so three months later she’s got her own stand at a large whisky festival in London, with literally hundreds and hundreds of Paul’s old Macallans, Bowmores, or Ardbegs… Once the festival is over, she’s back home, where Paul’s waiting for her feverishly.
“How did it go, Diana? he asks.
- Perfectly well, Paul!!
- That’s cool, and how much did you make?
- £10,005!
- That’s better than nothing. But what idiot gave you five pounds?
- Well, all of them, why?”
Finish: same. Comments: just as excellent.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Aultmore-Glenlivet 12 yo 2006/2019 (57.4%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogshead, 1044 bottles)

Aultmore-Glenlivet 12 yo 2006/2019 (57.4%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogshead, 1044 bottles)
This one from four hoggies. In theory, but I could be wrong, this baby could be a little less sharp and tart. Colour: straw, so a tad darker. Nose: indeed, perhaps a little more vanilla, granny smith apple, a tiny touch of rubber, lemon, white asparagus, a hint of coconut water… With water: indeed it lost a bit of the ACs’ wonderful tightness. But it remained lovely. Mouth (neat): indeed, it’s a little rounder than the single casks, but other than that, profiles are extremely similar. No silly joke this time. With water: a little bit of sweetness over limoncello, grass and liquorice wood. Finish: rather long, still very grassy and limoncello-y. Comments: some friends would perhaps find these young Aultmores a little say petty or narrow, but I would disagree.
SGP:461 - 86 points.

So all in all we’ve tried six casks of 2006 by Cadenhead, that’s enough.

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