Back to the origin...

Today, let’s talk about one of the first whisky which made me up my fascination for whiskies: The Aberlour A’bunadh (a-boona), A’bunadh meaning “the origin” in Scottish Gaelic.

Tasted for my first time at the distillery, appreciated several times, I recently had a glass in the Café Brun in Bordeaux.

Let’s have a dram together. As usual, a great trip! …

A’bunadh is a cask-strength single malt whisky from the Aberlour Distillery (Pernod Ricard) in the Speyside region (Scotland).

This cask-strength is produced as the 19th century traditional way of making whiskies, exclusively matured in Olorosso sherry barrels, unchilled and unfiltered.

It has no age statement. Each batch is blended from 5 to 25 years old barrels and each batch carries a unique number, mentioned on the label. Thus, depending from which batch the elixir come from, colour, nose, palate and the ABV vary. For example, the ABV can oscillate from 59% to 63%.

What does it taste like?

Tasting notes

Colour: Dark amber/Deep copper

Nose: Powerful. Spicy and fruity. Citrus fruits notes. Sherry, winey notes. 

Palate: Well balanced. Citrus fruits (orange), black cherry and dried fruits notes. Ginger, dark chocolate. Spiced and woody. Intense Olorosso sherry notes.

Finish: Long and warming. Chocolate, honey. Oaky and spicy notes.

A superb after-dinner malt, complex and powerful for sherried lovers. 
To match also with an onctuous molten chocolate cake (fondant au chocolat)

It’s also a very good value for money for a cask-strength malt whisky. An advice, always have a bottle of it in your whisky collection or some if you want to compare the different batches.

I really recommend the Aberlour Distillery Experience, an excellent visit where you can unbolted your own Aberlour whisky, direct from the cask (Sherry or Bourbon).

Slainte!