This is one of the latest batches of Aberlour A’Bunadh, one I selected for my Tasting Collection set. It’s a classic cask strength, sherry matured dram, on the market since 1998. As always, around 60-80 casks are used for each batch, which are bottled with no chill filtering and no colour added. The whisky used is roughly between 5 and 25 years old.
By the way, there have been over 200 participations in my little Tasting Collection competition. I will notify the winners later this week. Sorry if you didn’t make it, but we have another competition coming up!
Aberlour a’bunadh (60,9%, OB 2016, Oloroso sherry butts, batch n°55)
Aberlour a’bunadh (60,9%, OB 2016, Oloroso sherry butts, batch n°55)Nose: a very clean, aromatic batch. Lots of berries, leathery notes and polished oak. Rum & raisins, some herbal notes, allspice and chocolate sauce. Vanilla, a little burnt sugar. Walnuts and cloves. Perhaps a little more oak-forward than other batches, but nicely so, with a bit of an American bourbon feel to it. Just a little alcohol kick.
Mouth: again fairly oaky at first, with lots of high-octane sherry. Cinnamon cake, marzipan, candied orange peels, slowly joined by roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate. Big herbal notes, with a lightly bitter, mentholated edge. Cherry brandy. Enough fruitiness to fight the oak.
Finish: oak and cloves, leading to dark chocolate. Still plenty of herbal notes. Very, very long.
The idea behind this beast is some very active sherry wood of course. It has all the deep sherry goodness, especially on the nose, but also a bit of a herbal overdrive side-effect towards the finish. Around € 60.
Score: 88/100