Aberlour, we all instantly think sherry bomb and for good reasons too… Most of the official releases comprise of sherry matured whisky and of course we all know and love that particular release named Abunadh !! Ok we might not love the price tag related to the release but we still think of this style of whisky when talking about Aberlour.

That in its self is strange as when we look at the indie bottles from the distillery they are often bourbon matured and seem to be overlooked somewhat. The indie bottlers over the years have uncovered some real gems but still we divert from buying because we have this ideal in our head that Aberlour should in fact be sherried, i know i get sucked into that trap often.

Our preconceived ideas often dictate our thoughts and stop us from buying something that most probably will make us happy for the fear it is something different, why ? probably because a lot of us are afraid of the unknown.

Bourbon matured whisky is after all the most common, although that does not mean it should be accepted nor does it mean its good, it’s just a fact and with most distilleries we accept that as a fact and normality but with a handful of distilleries it becomes alien..

9 Year old Aberlour – Batch 6

Distillery.. Aberlour

Region.. Speyside

Age.. 9 years

Abv.. 49.7%

Cask.. Ex Bourbon

RRP.. £74.95

Nose.. This leads with a richness that comes from honey, candied sweets and vanilla, add some fresh fruits and a little malty undernote with a delicate hint of lemon rind.

Palate.. The fruits lead into gentle spices and a candied sweet note. Butterscotch, peardrops and fruit salad sweets all dominate the palate with a hint of pepper and ginger giving this a little bite.

Finish.. A little bitterness and spices

Thoughts.. This feels more like a summertime dram than something i want to drink in the depths of winter but allowing for that, this whisky conjures images of a warm summer evening, barbeque cooking the burgers and mixed peppers along with friends and whisky of course…

Can it get much better than that ?

This has to be considered as a social dram rather than a wow moment whisky, its what it is and should be taken as such.