Most whisky producers take pride in their long history, and will thus fight to subtract another year from their est. date (some list the day the construction of the distillery begun, rather than when it first opened, for example), Aberlour, however, have gone in the opposite direction. They first opened for business in 1826 but the distillery was burnt to the ground and re-opened in 1879, which is the date they now have on their bottles. Having been burnt to the ground and rebuilt, another fire broke out only 9 years after re-opening ; this time the fire wasn’t quite as bad and did spare some of the buildings, though several were completely destroyed along with most of their whisky reservoirs.
The 10 year old expression which I’m taking a look at today is, in my opinion, excellent value for money – I would even go so far as to say that it’s one of the best value for money whiskys you can get from the Speyside region. It has been a standard in my ‘bar globe’ (don’t you just love them? If only I had a countryside mansion for it to go in, life would be perfect) for the better part of a decade. I’ve also found that it is an excellent choice when introducing people to whisky, “it goes down like vanilla-sauce!” one of my (foreign) non-whisky drinking friends exclaimed a couple of years back after I insisted he give it a chance.
As glad as I was that I had not given him anything more expensive (it went down in under 2 minutes), I do think he was pretty much spot on; it really is an exceptionally smooth whisky. The nose may remind you slightly of Dalmore King Alexander III, if you’ve been fortunate enough to try that (I think I may have to break some out after this review, actually!), with the decisive presence of chocolate, dried fruits, a hint of cinnamon and vanilla(-sauce!). The palate continues much along the same line as the nose, though I would say that the chocolate darkens a bit, the vanilla is joined by a touch of honey and, as mentioned before, it’s really smooth.
Summary:
Eye: Amber
Nose: Chocolate, vanilla, dried fruits (apple, plums), herbs and a touch of cinnamon.
Palate: Same as the nose but with a touch of honey, seductively smooth.
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