Aberlour 10 year old
Bottle Name: Aberlour 10 year old
Distillery: Aberlour
Region: Speyside Age: 10
Aberlour’s 10 year old entry-level bottling is matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. It’s a hugely popular whisky, currently available in over 50 countries worldwide – and it’s easy to see why with a price point of less than £30 here in the UK. The bottling is delivered with an ABV of 40%.
Nose: Sweet and fruity – apples, oranges, mangoes and apricots – quite the fruit salad. Initially some coppery notes – though these dissipate quickly with a little resting. Behind this, aromas of toffee and fudge, light raisins and vanilla extract. Sherried undoubtedly, but with fair ex-bourbon influence here also. Rather malty and with cinnamon and nutmeg spicing adding some complexity.
Taste: A swift arrival that delivers both sweetness of fruit, but also bitterness of wood. Fresh fruits – green apples, pineapples, citrus as well as some gentle poached hedgerow berries. Astringency and tannins (both of which calm with a little resting) are joined by vanilla, freshly cut wood planks and some earthiness – soils and hay. Sherry influence is slightly less on the palate than on the nose, but still adds some brown sugar flavour along with buttered toast, pastries and cinnamon spicing.
Finish: Medium in length, and delivering toffee-coated apples, light pepperiness and oak bitterness.
Aberlour 10 is fresh, fruity and quite straight-forward. I found that it really benefitted from a few minutes of glass resting, losing some of its more overtly young aromas and flavours. The sherry influence here is certainly discernible, but a lot more understated than you’ll find across the rest of the Aberlour core range. Nevertheless, pound for pound, this represents excellent value.
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