Aberfeldy 16 Years Old

By Barry Bradford on January 10, 2016 • ( 2 Comments )

Aberfeldy 16 Years Old (40%, OB, 2015)

Whisky Review

Category: Highland single malt scotch whisky
Origin: Aberfeldy Distillery
Bottling: Official – John Dewar & Sons/Bacardi Ltd.
ABV: 40%
Cost: £55.63

What they say:

Glasgow, Scotland, 27^th November 2015 – John Dewar & Sons unveils its latest expression from The Golden Dram – ABERFELDY 16 Years Old.

ABERFELDY® 16 Years Old is entirely finished in premium Oloroso sherry casks, allowing a sumptuous and more pronounced sherry accent to the malt, giving a suggestion of dried fruit and spicy notes that only the finest of quality casks contribute.

Built by the Dewar family in 1898, the distillery is one of a handful remaining in Perthshire. The house style is rich but smooth and accessible with an emphasis on notes of honey. The long fermentation time of 70 hours allows for greater flavour development as an extended fermentation encourages the creation of more esters which in turn give the whisky fruitiness.

Known as The Golden Dram, Aberfeldy’s precious water source, the Pitilie Burn, is steeped in local folklore and its qualities have long been sought-after. The burn is renowned for being rich in mineral deposits including alluvial gold.

ABERFELDY 16 Years Old tasting notes at 40% ABV

Alba’s rare alchemy, exhaling honey, citrus and spicy cloves. Sherried and full like fruitcake, then dabs of dark chocolate. A soothing Scotch elixir for a favourite couthie corner.

The newly released ABERFELDY 16 Years Old, bottled at 40% ABV, joins the existing portfolio of single malts. It is described as rewardingly viscous and sweet; full of fresh fruit and buttery notes. Priced at £62.00, the new expression is available in 11 markets around the world: Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan and the UK.

What I say:

Following the recent rebranding and redesign at Aberfeldy we finally saw the loss of their Red Squirrel logo (a hangover from the UDV days as the Red Squirrel was their Flora and Fauna range badge – a very rare bottling to find these days indeed!). WE had the fortune to visit Aberfeldy distillery for a whisky geeks tour not long after the re-brand and sampled some of the wonderful expressions and single cask bottlings released for their annual festival. One of these a 16 year old called Ramble, produced for The Whisky Store, really stuck in my mind as a truly wonderful expression. So when Dewars announced their launch of a 16 Year Old expression matured in Oloroso Sherry Casks I jumped at the chance to sample this expression for a review.

Colour:

Full amber gold, rosy highlights (10/20), medium droplet tears leave tapered/fine legs

Nose:

A bowl full of fresh fruit presents itself with ripe pears, peaches and apricots, a drizzle of sweet honey and golden syrup, apple sauce and freshly baked apple pie with cinnamon and vanilla custard, malty cereal barley, salted caramel fudge, well worn leather belt, marzipan, nutty hazelnuts coated in chocolate, nut brittle, and toffee round out the nose.

Taste:

Waxy and oily initially this thins and presents with a touch of citrus zest and spice, caramel and toffee, redder fruits than suggested by the nose, red apples, raspberry, strawberry, plum, malty cereal barley and honey combine to give a treacle-like flavour leading into oak wood with a touch of tannin and suede leather, chocolate drops or buttons mixed into vanilla cream

Finish:

Medium-long, cinnamon spiced honey and honeydew melon fades

Overall:

Smooth and oily, perhaps a touch over-spiced for my palate in places this is a dram full of subtleties that rewards spending some time with. Thanks to Aberfeldy/Dewars and Quercus Communications for official sample.