Three cask strength sherry monsters...

[Admiral]

Which is your favourite?

(P.S. This poll will be far more useful and interesting if votes are accepted only by people who have tried all three. If you've only tried one or two of them, please feel free to post a comment, but may I suggest you abstain from casting a vote?)

Cheers,
Admiral

[Muskrat Portage]

Admiral: I'm going to pour the three drams, do a quick refresher sample, then post my vote. To be edited shortly... Pete
(Edit:) My vote goes to Macallan CS the older white box with red stripes over the Glenfarclas 105, which came second, followed by Aberlour A'Bunadh batch 13 in last place. Surprising, as I would have chosen the A'Bunadh first and the Glenfarclas second based on flavour memory alone.
A humbled Muskrat Portage.

[Lawrence]

Aberlour a'bunadh is my first choice, hands down.

[Di Blasi]

I haven't tried the Macallan Cask Strength, and although the Glenfarclas 105 is excellent and surprisingly smooth for 60%, the Aberlour A'bunadh is WOW, pure milk chocolate!

[Bullie]

Aberlour a'Bunadh without a doubt. It is much better than the 10yo or 15yo Aberlour expression, while the Macallan or the Glenfarclas isn't that much better (or as good as) than their standard expressions. (10/15/17 and so on)

The a'Bunadh have it's strenght in that it comes out in different Batches which also make it more collectable and sought after for tasters. It´s more individual so to speak...

IMHO of course...

[Deactivated Member]

Musky, try them again in a different order. In fact, try every possible permutation:

123
132
213
231
312
321

Then spend an evening with each by itself. I have a suspicion that context changes everything, no matter how you try to clear your palate.

[Muskrat Portage]

Musky, try them again in a different order. In fact, try every possible permutation:...Then spend an evening with each by itself. I have a suspicion that context changes everything, ...

Mr. T. you bring up a valid point or three. I will revisit these three again and do it blind to see what happens. Possibly I should also sample the 13, 14 and 15 batches? Musky Pete

[Admiral]

For my money:

1. Aberlour A'bunadh (Batch No. 6)
2. Glenfarclas 105 (The more recent bottlings have improved tremendously)
3. Macallan CS

Cheers,
Admiral

[Sherried Malt]

I've only tried the Macallan and Aberlour and prefer the former. I find the Abunadh too over the top for most evenings. I really have to be in the right mood to prefer it over the Macallan.

I have the 105 on order, so we'll see what that's all about...

[jimidrammer]

I voted A'bunadh also as it is my favorite Sherry Monster. Having said that, I do find more of a difference in the batches than some people. The batch #13 was my least favorite and would probably fall behind the Macallan C/S. The batch #8 was as good as both the Mac and Glenfarclas, but the Batch #12 which I've had a couple bottles of, beats them all. An unopened batch #11 is still in the wings. I completely missed the batch #14 and have yet to purchase batch #15. To be fair, my Glenfarclas 105 was finished off back in January and my Macallan C/S was replaced but has sit unopened for nearly a year, so it's probably time to revisit. Veering slightly off topic I will say that Glenfarclas gets magical at 25yo while Mac and Aberlour don't suit me at higher ages, but not really a fair comparison, since my oldest Mac was 18 and Aberlour was 15.

[bamber]

Macallan CS. I've put away a fair amount of that syrup and enjoyed every drop of the stuff.

[Admiral]

Yes, it is a bit syruppy, isn't it!

(Most syruppy whisky I've ever tried was 1960's Glen Grant bottled in the early-mid 1980's from the most sublime oloroso cask I've ever encountered. T'was a private bottling, none left, I'm afraid!)

[bamber]

That Glen Grant sounds very tasty. I plan to pick up some syrupy Mac in June from WoW at Heathrow.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I have to admit the I have not tried the Glenfarclas but I voted for A'bunadh as I prefer it over the Macallan cask strength. I find it more rounded and flavoursome.