Aberlour Tasting - 19th July - 7pm

[TheTross]

Aberlour A'bunadh Batch #22 (59.3%, OB)

Colour: Deep amber

Nose: Thick and syrupy. Obviously heavily sherried but not really winy. Very sweet, rich and warming, with marzipan, chocolate and mint (chocolate-coated Kendal Mint Cake). Citrus fruit, particularly orange. Treacle toffee. A touch sulphuric at times (burnt matchstick), and maybe even slightly peaty. Strawberry confectionary.

Palate: Thick and rich. Very warming! Big, and fairly winy this time. Spiced chocolate. Some citrus fruit. Very drying if left in the mouth for more than a few seconds.

Finish: A little winy initially, with some citrus fruit developing after a few seconds. Some mint appears after that. Very warming indeed!


This one is my favourite A'bunadh batch so far and, in fact, is my favourite Aberlour per se. I love the nose on this, which is very complex and actually reminds me of a sherried Glengassaugh I tried a couple of months back that was out of this world.

[LagaDrinker]

I tried two last night the here are my thoughts: -

Aberlour 10 Y.O.

N:Spicy fruit cake, orange peel and almonds.

T:Slightly grainy, freshly cut grass, dry and woody.

F:Thin, spices, then wood comes through.

I thought this was ok but not one of my favorites, its on offer in Tesco at the moment with £6 off at £17.99. Even with this though I think I would give it a miss. For me a 6/10.

[LagaDrinker]

Aberlour 12 Y.O.

N:Sherry triffle, deep spiced fruit and honey.

T:Oloroso sherry, hot spices, dry.

F: Longer than 10 Y.O. Still thin and dry but slightly hot. Woody.

I like this more than the 10 Y.O. The sherry taste in it appeals to me. The thin (not oily) finish that I get leaves me wanting a bit more to be honest but this is definately better than the 10 Y.O. in my opinion. I would consider buying this but I prefer The Macallan 10 Y.O.
7/10

Last two will follow later today...

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Must totally and unreservedly apologise to Matt and Ian for missing this. We had unexpected visitors drop by and they ended up staying the night. I still have not had a chance to taste my samples but will post when I get a chance. Looks like it was a success though and I and gutted I missed it.

[Ryguy]

Excellent notes everyone! It seems as though the tasting went very well. I just had time to read through everything this morning, very nice.

It was a pleasure to have Ian Logan present, thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us!

[les taylor]

Les,

Good to hear from you, have a good weekend. You know where I am if you have any queries.

Hi Ian thanks for that. I manged to read through the 10 pages. Great stuff everyone. So a big thankyou to Matt and Ganga for setting it up and to Ian Logan for sparing his time to give such an insight into the world of Aberlour. And for all the contributions that made this such a good event.

[Ganga]

Sorry, I was busy with the boys yesterday and with S'tan saturday night. Samples arrived at the end of Saturday about the time I needed to leave.

Ryan, Mikey and any other US folks that had their samples arrive late, I'd like to setup a tasting for next Saturday afternoon or Friday evening for the 10, 12, 16 and 18. I'll see what everyone thinks tomorrow night and pick one or the other.

[TreacleSponge]

Samples arrived today - thanks Matt & Ian - so I'll tuck in...

Aberlour 12yo
Nose: Softer than the 10, but very similar. Oranges and fresh apple.
Palate: Apple, dry sherry
Finish: Short. Dry and peppery.

Not unpleasant but doesn't seem a great deal different from the 10.

[TreacleSponge]

Aberlour 16yo

Nose: Richer than the 10 and 12. Apple again, something very sweet like marshmallow,
Palate: Sherry, fruit and butter, like apple fruit pie. A spicy kick to this.
Finish: Nutmeg and cracked black pepper

Although sharing many of the characteristics, the little extra aging has made quite a difference here.

[Dram fine idea]

Hi folks
I really enjoyed the tasting on Saturday evening. After I logged out I had a lovely glass of Glenfiddich 18 and a bottle of beer, then felt very sleepy and crashed (must have been the beer). I have caught up with the posts today and again it was an excellent session, thanks to all who took part and to Ganga, Matt and Ian for organising and providing the samples - much appreciated (even by the thirsty fly in Willie's house). The 18 yo and the A'bunadh 23 are now on my wish list (with the 10 yo possibly worth a pop at £17.99 at Tesco as the support act).
Slange
Steve

[TreacleSponge]

Aberlour 18yo
Nose: Apple, orange, caramel, sweet wine. A little smoke. Gets more vanilla-y over time.
Palate: Toffee, cinnamon and those beige chalky sticks of rock from years ago - I think it's maybe called coltsfoot - slightly cough sweetish. Fruit as before.
Finish: Hint of liquorice, very peppery

Thanks for another interesting tasting! When exploring them one after another like that the Aberlour style is very apparent. There didn't seem to be much variation between the 10 and 12, but then there's a bigger jump in depth to the 16 & 18. I was surprised at how much peppery heat kicked in after all that fruit, but after that I didn't get any surprises. I favour the 18yo which was by far the most interesting.

[LagaDrinker]

Aberlour 16 Y.O.

N:Deep spiced fruit, rich caramel tones, honey, candied spices, strong brown sugar.

T: Sweet caramelised fruit, then woody oak.

F: Still thin, long dry, then deep wood soaked dryness.

A definate step up from the 10 Y.O. This enjoyable malt has a subtle freshness to it. The woody finish is long and very dry. I would be happy to have a bottle of this in my collection.

7.5/10

[LagaDrinker]

Aberlour 18 Y.O.

N:Deep spiced fruit, honey, nail varnish remover, slightly sherry.

T:Immediately woody, silky at the start then drying as the sherried wood becomes more intense.

F:Dry finish, quite short, leaves overall dryness with not much taste.

I was hoping for a further improvement from the 16Y.O. Unfortunately I am disappionted. The woodiness just seems to over-power everything else. I wonder if this is just a bit too old and the 16 Y.O. is the way to go. This is still better than the 10Y.O. though.

7/10

[UUNetBill]

and a link to her collection:

http://www.intelliscanner.net/aemurphy/wine/

Now I need to bump up my SM collection to catch up with her!!

Wow, that's a pretty nice and diverse cellar. Guess you never have to worry about people dropping over and not being able to offer them something to drink!

Unless they're looking for diversity in whites - we are (obviously) predominately red drinkers, but we'll toss some whites in there as a tribute to my years living in the Mosel valley.

And thanks, BTW!

[Ganga]

North American folk, any takers for Friday night or Saturday afternoon? I'll be out Saturday night so that's a no go for me.

[Deactivated Member]

So, Malty has his samples and would now like to try them.
I have not long since eaten and I'm sure this will affect my tasting, so I will use only small samples now and save some for another day too.

I haven't read anyone else's notes on these, so I am trying not to be influenced by anything other than my own senses here.

Aberlour 10, 12, 16 & 18

Colour 10y: A nice light bronze.
Colour 12y: Slightly richer than the 10y.
Colour 16y: Very slightly darker still.
Colour 18y: Obviously the darkest, but not by much. They are all a lovely typical sherried-style of colouring. Nice!

Aberlour 10y
Nose: Definite hints of currants and raisins, but some of the dark fruits from Christmas cake are missing, so I can't liken it to that.

Palate: A little thinner than I expected, but not exactly watery. It is also quite smooth and not at all harsh. The flavours I immediately sensed were somewhere between nuts and raisins, but they soon dispersed. Not a long finish.
But I wonder if this is due to what I ate just before.

Overall Impression: A nice dram which I haven't tried before. In fact I haven't tried any of these before, so I am looking forward to them all.

Aberlour 12y
Nose: The 12y is more pronounced than the 10y, with a nose including slightly stronger raisins and just a hint of marzipan.

Palate: This has a little more of a bite with a slight tingle on the very front of the tongue. The flavours are again those of currants and raisins, with a touch more nuttiness in the aftertaste.
The 12y certainly has a longer finish than the 10y.

Overall Impression: Nice, a slight improvement on the 10y, by which I mean deeper flavours and longer finish.

Aberlour 16y
Nose: Mmmmm, there's more aroma here, slightly perfumed too. This bodes well, a nice aromatic 16y sherry cask!
There is more of a hint of nuts / marzipan here than the currants and raisins of the previous two.

Palate: This is much more robust. Creamy and rich, not at all as thin as the previous two. The flavour is also more rounded, more of a complete Christmas cake with much more (dark) fruit alongside the nuts, raisins, currants and marzipan. This is almost a mild Christmas pudding, not a cake!

Overall Impression: This one I like much more than the previous two. It is much more rounded in character and more complex too. It 'feels' more like a good sherry cask dram.

Aberlour 18y
Nose: Only slightly richer than the 16y, really not much difference.

Palate: A much better feel in the mouth, very rich, smooth and creamy with very pronounced dark fruits, currants, raisins and some hints of marzipan.
The finish is also not as dry as the 12y & 16y.

Overall Impression: Good, I like this.

Conclusions: This is quite difficult. I found the 10y quite thin, the 12y slightly better and then the 16y & 18y much better. Which do I like the most? It#s really hard to choose between the 16y and 18y. The 16y is perhaps slightly more complex, the 18y slightly deeper and richer. I think the 18y would be a great Christmas dram after lunch, whereas the 16y is more of an 'anytime' dram.
The 18y leans more towards the infamous A'Bunadh, but it is still a million miles away, if you can understand that. Related yes, but distantly so.

[Ryguy]

Excellent notes Malt-Teaser!! Thanks for posting them!

[Ganga]

Ladies and Laddies:

It is my intention to be here tonight with the samples from Matt, about 7:30 PM PDT. Anyone who received their samples late is welcome to join me in adding their thoughts on these Aberlours.

Also, I plan to be back Saturday about 12:30 PM PDT to do the same. I think I have one volunteer for each time slot so anyone else that would like to join is very welcome.

[Sherried Malt]

My samples never showed up so I won't be able to join you... Dang. I was looking forward to trying the range too...

Have fun, guys!

[Ganga]

Ok, don't know if anyone else is going to make it out tonight. Here goes with the Aberlour 10 yo in large brandy glass.

N: banana nut bread, bun dough, very light citrus
P: bananas, light wood
F: not very long, lingering oak

[Ganga]

Split sample into the Celtic Malts glass.

N: banana taffy, light oakiness, mild citrus
P: bananas, oak, light lemons
F: kind of short, with mild oakiness

[Ganga]

Moving right along, 12 yo in large brandy glass.

N: maple, vanilla
P: bananas, nuts and wood
F: moderate, with mixed nuts and wood

[Ganga]

12 yo, Celtic Malts glass

N: used cinnamon sticks, woodshop, sweetness
P: nuts, light woods and spices
F: moderate with a lingering wood spice

[Ganga]

Interesting, the wiped out glasses have a strawberry scent.

[Ganga]

The 16 yo, large brandy glass.

N: fleshy fruits-cooked plantains, some toffee-very light, ground barley
P: cinnamon bread, soft caramels
F: longer with cinnamon bread

[Ganga]

16 yo, Celtic Malts glass

N: toffee and leather, green bananas, barley
P: toffees and grains, light spices
F: moderate, with just a sprinkling of spices

[Ganga]

18 yo in large brandy glass.

N: spiced toffee, hints of grist, light fruits over the top-berries?
P: creamy, buttery toffee, spicey
F: longer yet, lingering mixed spices

[Ganga]

18 yo, Celtic Malts glass

N: toffees and caramels, light woodiness, grains
P: toffees and caramel smothered in dark chocolate, lightly spiced
F: long with spices over the top and a chocolate base

[mikeymad]

Okay going to make a run at the 10,12,16,18 from Matt (thx)... with ganga on the line.

Starting at the 10 of course.

Cheers,

[Ganga]

10 yo, glencairn tonight.

N: bananas, dough, apples-cooked
P: oaky, bananas, ground-dried herbs
F: short, bit of woodiness

[mikeymad]

Aberlour 10yo - Sample from Matt
-Glencairn

Nose- Orange, light spice, malt
Palate- Light, various spices, nice malt, note much more there for me right now
Finish- medium to short, lingering spice and some oak

- A decent drinker...

[Ganga]

12 yo, glencairn.

N: doughy, oranges and lemons
P: cedar, malty, very light spices
F: short, a little astringent

[mikeymad]

Aberlour 12yo - Sample from Matt

-Glencairn
Nose- light spice, more pronounced cooked fruit (apples/oranges)
Palate- spices and prominent fruit
Finish- Spice continues on longer, a little bit further coating the palate

- like it a little bit better than 10yo, but they are very close for me.

[Ganga]

16 yo, glencairn

N: cinnamon and dough, light citrus
P: toffees and dark chocolate, spices
F: moderate, spice coating over chocolate

[Ganga]

18 yo, glencairn.

N: loads of barley, toffee, fresh fruits, mint?
P: toffee, creamy, spicey-cinnamon, dark chocolate
F: moderately long, spicey with chocolate covered toffee