Aberfeldy 12 year old

Well, we hope everyone had a great Christmas/New Years holiday. The January break has certainly seen our livers cleansed and ready to get back into our monthly exploration of the wonderful world of single malt whisky and we hope you feel the same way. We had hoped to get 2015 underway a little earlier, however a late delivery has seen us having to hold off for a week or two longer than hoped for. But the good news is… we’re back! And what better way to kick off a new year of whisky tasting than with a very hard to find malt – Aberfeldy 12 year old.

Established in 1898, the Aberfeldy Distillery was build in the Scottish Highlands in Perthshire by the Dewar brothers and quickly became the backbone of the Dewars White Label Blended Whisky.  The success of Dewars Blend has restricted the release of Aberfeldy until it was finally available as a single malt in 1999.  It was not and is still not widely available since then, so we are pretty lucky to get hold of it. Bacardi bought out the Dewar brothers in about 2004.  After that it was available only at duty free stores.  The packaging has changed since the first releases in a bell shaped bottle with a small cream label.  It will be interesting to see if the whisky has changed also.

Good fruit, barley, heather/ lantana and a touch of smoke on the nose.  Rich accelerating intensity on the palate.  It starts off quite light, then builds in intensity through the palate to end in a drying finish, inviting a second sip.  That lovely rich vanilla and toffee are complimented by savoury herbaceousness and that lovely dry finish.