Aberlour Batch 1 (54.6%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company, 2012)
- Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
- Origin: Aberlour Distillery
- Bottling: That Boutique-Y Whisky Company Batch #1
- ABV: 54.6% ABV
- Cost: £43.95 for 50cl (equivalent to £61.53 for 70cl)
- Score: 87/100
What they say:
Aberlour was once known as Aberlour-Glenlivet – back when Speyside distilleries tried to cash in on the cachet of the Glenlivet Distillery following legal action which prevented them calling themselves solely Glenlivet but allowed them to hyphenate the name. This now seems unnecessary as Aberlour is a phenomenal whisky in its own right as can be seen in this first batch, bottled by ‘That Boutique-y Whisky Company’.
‘That Boutique-y Whisky Company’ bottles single malts, blended malts and blends from a variety of renowned distilleries. These whiskies are adorned with cultish comic book-style labels.
The label features the world-famous ‘Mash Tun’ whisky bar in Aberlour. In the top window cowers a man looking terrified for his life, who and
for what reason we may never know…
175 bottles of this batch were produced.
Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt
Nose: Raisins and dried apple lead to cox apples, cloudy apple juice, ground ginger and roast cocoa beans with maybe the slightest hint of smoke.
Palate: Rich, fruity and mouth-filling, with additional notes of ginger, barley and bitter dark chocolate.
Finish: The finish is substantial and well-rounded with burnt dry fruits, autumnal berries, Pink Lady apples and brandy cream flavours.
Overall: Classic Aberlour apple gives way to a deeper chocolate ginger character on the palate and finish. Full-flavoured and more-ish.
What I say:
Received this as a Christmas present [in 2012] from my nearest and dearest as she knows how much I rave about Aberlour’s whisky and I had already acquired a generous amount of their expressions. I think she was most attracted to this particular bottle as it was relatively inexpensive [though the fact it was only a 50cl bottle perhaps wasn’t noticed until it arrived] and it was a limited bottling cask strength Aberlour. This particular bottle sold out within days of being released on Master of Malt, so perhaps her deductive reasonings were well-informed. Plus you really can’t go wrong with offering me bottles of Aberlour whisky as present!
Colour:
Dark russet/amber gold
Nose:
Crisp and fresh Bramley or Granny Smith green apples, sweet peach and orange/esters, nail polish/acetone, sherry leather fizz, walnut, cereal barley malt and a little yeast.
Taste:
Warm toffee apple sweetness, fudge and brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg spices, raisins and brandy [or calvados] butter
Finish:
Very sweet fresh green apple, a little spearmint, prickly sugar and spice
Would I buy it again:
This is very gentle for its strength with lots of sweet fruits and fresh green apple flavours with gently zingy spiciness. The distinctive apple-y Aberlour spirit really shines out of this cask strength bottling, this is a lot smoother and more refined then the A’Bunadh leading me to suspect that it is somewhat older though the age statements are not declared on TBWC bottlings. Based on this expression I suspect they are perhaps bottling very good quality single casks that display the particular Distilleries character in a slightly different setting perhaps to the usual distillery bottlings. In this example for instance the Sherry influence is not as full on as it can be in the stable Aberlour expressions. Regardless this was a very well received present and a damn fine dram. I hope to sample further TBWC bottlings soon…
The Whiskyphiles 