Aberlour A’bunadh, Batch 34
Aberlour claims a shared parentage with Dailuaine – being founded by James Fleming. Both are east of the River Spey in whisky country. Some sourced give the date of Aberlour’s founding as 1826, but that distillery was at a different location and burnt down. The modern Aberlour was founded at its current location in 1879.
Can’t seem to find much history of the distillery before its 1945 purchase by Campbell Distillers and the subsequent expansion that brought the number of stills up to 4 with 3.5 million litre a year capacity. Campbell Distillers later became part of Pernod Ricard and Aberlour’s ownershio passed into French hands.
Other notable dates are 1962 when the floor maltings ceased operation and 1973 when the distillery was modernized with steam heated stills and condensers as well as a modern fermentation regime. The stiller were also replaced in 1975.
Aberlour A’bunadh, Batch 34, 59.5% ‘Single Cask Spanish Oloroso Sherry Butts’
If it’s vatted (sorry, blended malt) from sherry casks, it can’t be a single cask, can it?
Also A’bunadh means ‘the original’ – alledegly in reference to a 1898 bottle found in a time capsule behind one of the still’s name plate that ws discovered by workmen. And the workmen finished four fifths of the bottle before it was surrendered. So says wikipedia.
Nose: Prune puree, thick, more dense than aromatic and cooked fruit, dark chocolate. Reminds me of the Glendronach Batch 1. I should do a head to head! All sorts of leather and polish notes but it’s quite closed at 59.5. Some sweetly pungent fresh herbs too. With water, opens up thought the overall nose is unchanged. In exchange for power, the thick heavy fruit seems more varied and open. Still full of menthol notes.
Palette: Powerful, sweet, rich and huge – really prune heavy to me but there’s all this cooked dessert fruit too. Ok, menthol making a sudden and big appearance, sweet and pungent, very ‘green’ and super-fresh ok it’s menthol jujubes. Real long lasting mint this one. With water: Toned down and more approachable a bit more complex even? But profile remains.
Finish: Long, herbal sourness.
Great sherry monster, huge and unapologetic, but lacks a bit of complexity and cohesion. Profile is a little simple.
Against the Glendronach Batch 1:
The Glendro’s sherry heavy though it is, has a fruitier aspect with more fresh aromatics. The Abunadh’s sherry is prune like and dense but comes with a herbal freshness.
On the palette the Glendro is smooth and more complex where else the Abunadh is distinctively individual with its big menthol herbiness.
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