Whisky: Aberlour Distillery Exclusive 2022 11 Year Old
Producer: Pernod Ricard
Distillery: Aberdour Distillery
Region: Speyside (Moray), Scotland
Whisky Type: Single Malt (100% malted barley)
Age: 11 years
ABV: 49.4%
Aged in Cask: Oloroso Sherry casks
Price Range: $$
The Aberlour Distillery was founded in 1879 by grain dealer James Fleming. Aberlour sits in the confluence of the Lour and Spey rivers in Speyside (also known as Strathspey). The name means mouth of the chattering burn in Gaelic. Scots use the word burn to refer to a water stream or small river.
The distillery is known for creating classic expressions of single malts using ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. However, the latter is the specialty. Considered by many experts as one of the sherry maturation powerhouses in Scotland with Glenfarclas, The Macallan, and Glendronach, sherry expressions of Aberlour can bring rich and sweet dried fruit flavors to the experience, especially at cask strength and above 10 year old expressions.
Tasting Notes for Aberdour Distillery Exclusive 2022 11 Year Old
This bottle is #2239, bottled in March of 2022, and the souvenir I picked up at the distillery. Here are the tasting notes.
Nose: Rich and powerful aromas of sherry, chocolate, caramel, and spices.
Palate: Sweet arrival, but feels a bit hot initially. The mid-palate develops rapidly into oaky and spicy flavors. The initial sweetness was charming but did not last. Adding ten drops of water makes the malt more balanced because the sweetness from the sherry excels while the oaky bitterness retreats.
Finish: Medium to long with an explosion of oak, tannic, and spicy flavors in the finish that feels out of balance. After adding water, the sweetness from the sherry and the spices from the oak came to an almost perfect equilibrium.
Conclusion: As much as I love Aberlour as a distillery, I did not like this malt neat due to the reasons I just explained. However, adding water transformed the malt and made it much more enjoyable.
How does the Aberlour Distillery Exclusive compare to the Aberlour 16 from the standard range? Here are a couple of comments:
• Aberlour 16 is enjoyable but feels weak compared to the Distillery Exclusive, which is assertive with water. The reason could be the ABV difference (40% ABV from the 16-year-old vs. 49.4% ABV from the distillery exclusive) and the age (16 vs. 11).
• Aberlour Distillery produces the 16-year-old version at scale for domestic and export markets as opposed to the distillery exclusive, which aims at a different audience, the whisky geeks.
Score: 3.75/5 ⭐
Read more reviews on Speyside whisky here. Don’t forget to follow me on my Instagram account. Slainte!
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