Aberlour 10 year old
Forest Reserve
For your warm autumn evening
Today I'm writing about a bottle that I thought to be not that special.
I bought it as being a daily drinker, instead of a special dram.
After trying it, there were two things I had to do:
1) I added some to my infinity bottle
2) I decided to create this page.
When I started this website, I decided I'd rather be writing about the stories around great drams or focus on new recipes in the cooking with whisky section.
It is just that I find reviewing whisky still a bit difficult.
My flavor, my taste and likings, might be totally different then that of another person. So who am I to score a whisky? It might be someones favorite!
But then I encounter a bottle like this, and, spoiler alert, although it is not one of my favorites, I find it nice enough for me to want to write about it.
I bought this bottle because of the description on the website. It said this whisky had a Limousin oak finish. And I just happened to have tried a whisky just before, that had a Limousin oak finish as well. That was the Mackmyra Limousin.
I tried a whole range at that tasting, and found I liked the limousin the best. So, why not try an Aberlour with the same kind of finish? A nice experiment to see If I like it just as much, right?
To my surprise, the label on the bottle was in French. Why? Apparently this whisky was bottled for the French market. And has been for a few years now. So I guess I got a Scottish-French bottle?
Luckily for me, it was available in the Netherlands as well.
The whisky itself has seen bourbon and sherry casks, with, as mentioned before, a finish on French Limousin oak.
After a quick twirl around the glass, a thin line stays visible on the glass, with some very thin tears. I love the warm color, although I could not find if this whisky had been colored. The same thing accounts for chill filtering. (Although I assume it was colored and chill filtered.)
On the nose: Fresh fruits, honey and a bit of vanilla. A little bit of chocolate and pepper as spicy undertones. Even some oak. (I hope that was the Limousin.)
Taste: A strong spirit at first. I felt the burn in my throat when I did not even swallowed my sip yet. But after that: Roasted hazelnuts, apricots, dried fruits, a bit leathery and again a bit of pepper and chocolate .
Finish: Long, warm and spicy. A warm note of roasted nuts lingers, together with some tannines.
Score: 80
I would love to try this whisky with some fresh, warm, apple pie as a dessert.