• Founded: 1879
• Status: Operational
• Region: Speyside, Scotland – Aberlour, Banffshire AB38 9PJ +44 (0) 1340881249
• Online: https://www.aberlour.com/

History James Fleming, son of a local tenant farmer built Aberlour Distillery in 1879 after having worked at Dailuiane, Carron for ten years. Producing whisky from 1880 onwards until his death at the age of 65 in 1895. Fleming is buried opposite the distillery in the village cemetery. Robert Thorne & Sons bought the distillery and ran it until 1921. In 1921, Robert Thorne & Sons Ltd sold the distillery to W. H. Holt & Sons, a brewery near Manchester. In 1945 S. Campbell & Sons Ltd bought the distillery. In 1975 Pernod Ricard acquired Campbell Distilleries, and they joined with Chivas Brothers in 2001 forming a portfolio of 14 single malt distilleries and 1 grain distillery in Scotland, and 2 gin distilleries in England. In 2002, a new, modernized visitor centre was opened.

The Whiskyphiles tasting notes

Official bottling

• Aberlour 10 Years Old (2013) - Wow! for an entry level expression this has it all, beautiful apple-fresh speyside spirit and lashings of bourbon and sherry influences create a real complex toffee monster. This is permanently part of my collection, on my 3rd or 4th bottle and I intend to keep buying another as soon as the last one is finished. A perfect example from one of my favourite distilleries. 83/100
• Aberlour 11 Years Old 2001 White Oak (2013) - This is more interesting and refined compared to the Aberlour 10 year old. I think I will cherish this one for now and look out for a similar cask maturation with a little more age. It is surprising how fruity the Aberlour distillate is as I had assumed much came from the sherry cask. This is a beautiful contrast to the 10 year old and a worthy part of my collection. Plus it is always nice to surprise friends with something they are likely not to have seen or tasted before. There is a good chance I will buy more of this. 69/100
• Aberlour 12 Years Old Sherry Cask Matured (2013) - Still drinking this big litre bottle. Saving myself for the Aberlour A’Bunadh next after hearing so much about it. This is a nice dram but sadly for me has all the rubbery musty oaky notes and doesn’t develop the full-on sherry fruit flavours from the 10 year old that I love. If you like your aged whisky a little wooden then this is a must for you as the oak is superbly balanced and not drying in the slightest. 75/100
• Aberlour 16 Years Old 2000 Sherry Cask (2016) - A rich and deliciously sherried Aberlour, this hand-fill cask really proves the base filling underpinning Aberlour's A'Bunadh expression. A perfect example of how their light apple & honey spirit character really can work with a dollop of sherry cask maturation (as most of their standard range also attest). It really is a joy to find unadultered whiskies like this that reminds me why I love this particular distillery and its whisky so much! Visiting Aberlour distillery was definitely a highlight of 2016 for me. 91/100
• Aberlour 16 Years Old 2003 Distillery Reserve Collection (2021) - A little tannic and spicy at cask strength but water's well. Throughout despite heavy sherry cask influence there was a constant note of fresh and waxed red apples, a superbly sherried Aberlour.
• Aberlour 18 Years Old (2019) - Aberlour 18 Year Old whisky review: Much more dried fruit and sherry influence in the 18 year old expression as compared to the Aberlour Triple Cask I sampled in this little duet. Still quite fresh and zesty polish and pear drop distillate character and masses of apples join much of the sherry-derived darker fruits. 88/100
• Aberlour A’Bunadh Batch 45 (2013) - For me this is the Aberlour 10 Years Old at Cask Strength, being slightly younger, fresher spirit there is a little less depth in the A'Bunadh which was a little disappointing, however the ABV more than makes up for this. I was tempted to see if this opened up and revealed any deeper flavours with water but it was so smooth and enjoyable I drank it all far too quickly for this! For the price I would definitely recommend this as a fantastic cask strength whisky that is full of that sherried style that Aberlour do so well. I am sure before long that a full 70cl bottle will be making its way into my collection. 85/100
• Aberlour A’Bunadh Batch 49 (2014) - Another stonking batch from Aberlour, perhaps more biased towards the sweet side, this one may make your teeth hurt. Paired with the bittering influence of high percentage cocoa dark chocolate however helped temper this sweetness long enough to reveal some of the other fruity and nutty notes from the Aberlour spirit and sherry cask infuences. A dram for sweet-tooths! 85/100
• Aberlour Triple Cask (2019) - Aberlour Triple Cask whisky review: A soft and gentle expression full of red apples, some cinnamon bubblegum and pear drops suggest youthfulness but also distillery character here too. Rather pleasing at this price, and an acceptable replacement for the 10 year old expression. 83/100

Independent Bottling

Cadenhead

• Aberlour 19 Years Old 1995 Wine Cask (2015) - I'm stuggling to think of a better combination of whisky and cask than this example. The beautiful soft sweetness of Aberlour's honeyed apples in Sweet (vin liquoreux) White Bordeaux such as Sauternes giving a zesty sweetness and a little salt and spice to the caramel. Simply delicious, more apple-y than a bag of apples! 91/100
• Aberlour 21 Years Old 1989 Authentic Collection (2014) - Pleasantly surprised that bottles of this were still available for sale and at such a great price. I am severely tempted to buy a bigger bottle of this as it is superb in its simplicity. 91/100

Carn Mor

• Aberlour 18 Years Old 1994 Vintage Collection (2015) - Aberlour 18 Years Old 1994 Vintage Collection (46%, Càrn Mòr, HH #4413, 720 Bottles, 2012) Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky Origin: Aberlour Distillery Bottling: Carn Mor (Morrison & Mackay) ABV: 46% […]

Lockett Bros

• Aberlour 20 Years Old 1991 Craigleith (2014) - This is something I like to go to occasionally when I want something un-fussy and slightly contemplative. With the glut of other whisky to taste this has languished somewhat at the back of the whisky hutch, perhaps spending the time to review it properly will bring it back to my full-time attention. Then again it is too good to session drink, maybe I will eke it out for as long as I can and enjoy it when I'm feeling a bit thinky. After all everyone needs a favourite, I'm a little spoiled between Aberlour, Old Pulteney & Laphroaig right now - please come back again later... x 85/100

Scotch Malt Whisky Society

• SMWS 54.36 Pocket rocket (2015) - A little underwhelming, I found this quite one-dimensional 'fruity' and was a little disappointed - though that may have been partly due to my expectation of Aberlour to be much more entertaining than this. I guess despite the quality of the spirit a young refill barrel hasn't completely tamed this one for me and adding water makes it more interesting but not necessarily more enjoyable? Sadly my least favourite of the tasting. 81/100

That Boutique-Y Whisky Company

• Aberlour 9 Years Old Batch 7 (2023) - Typical Aberlour, punchy fresh apples and pears, soft cereals and some woody oak, what more could you want? 83/100
• Aberlour Batch 1 (That Boutique-y Whisky Company) (2014) - 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... 87/100