A little trio of Aberfeldies


February 12, 2025

A little trio of Aberfeldies

Aberfeldy is one of those malt brands that now put almost their entire range through various finishings, following the widespread trend. However, be aware that when certain brands label a bottling as, for example, ‘Madeira Cask’ or ‘Mizunara Oak’, it often simply means ‘finished in said cask’. But as far as I know, Aberfeldy always specifies this on their labels—credit to them for that.

(WF Archive, 2016)

Aberfeldy 12 yo ‘Madeira Cask Finish’ (40%, OB, travel retail, 2023)

One might imagine that, at the very least, travel retail finishes would be tailored to airports. Here, for instance, Funchal, naturally, or perhaps Lisbon, Faro or… er, Porto. No, forget it… Colour: gold. Nose: a few slightly dirty touches of mustard and aged walnuts—not unpleasant, in fact—dried raisins and toasted almonds, a hint of paprika, then some earthy notes. Quite pleasant. Mouth: pepper, mustard, walnut wine, a touch of burnt caramel and bitter chocolate, with a relatively powerful attack despite the low ABV. However, it quickly becomes rather prickly on the nose and turns increasingly drying, with hints of mushroom. A pity, as the combination is interesting. Finish: rather short, heavily on the Madeira, with Worcestershire sauce at this stage. Comments: one could almost use it in cooking, perhaps in a Madeira sauce. But of course! The 40% ABV is pretty low, that’s for sure, but it’s a nice drop in the end.
SGP: 461 - 80 points.

Aberfeldy 15 yo ‘Cadillac Sémillon Wine Cask Finish’ (43%, OB, 2023)

I’ve noticed that many merchants assume this comes from red wine, but of course, Sémillon is a white grape and the foundation of many sweet Bordeaux whites, such as… Cadillac. There are also red Cadillacs indeed (technically from the Côtes de Bordeaux Cadillac appellation), but naturally, they should never contain Sémillon. Colour: gold. Nose: plenty of wood and toasted bread at first, which is rather charming, then mint, liquorice and a touch of eucalyptus. There are certainly the typical notes of a sweet Sémillon—dried apricots, honey, syrupy pineapple, mandarin—but they’re not particularly bold. Mouth: pure Sémillon finishes are quite rare. Sauternes are usually Sémillon + Sauvignon and sometimes Muscadelle. Here, the oak and a slight stemminess take control almost immediately, alas, and barely let go. Bitter cocoa, a few citrus notes… Quite surprising, given that Cadillac’s sweet wines are generally inexpensive (around €10 to €15), so it’s rare to see them matured in particularly active casks. Finish: of medium length. A little green pepper, a touch of bitter orange, some discordances. Comments: fairly decent, but not quite enough to make one drop everything and start singing La Donna è Mobile, in my humble opinion.
SGP: 561 - 78 points.

Aberfeldy 10 yo 2013/2024 (48.2%, Signatory Vintage, Small Batch Edition #10, oloroso sherry)

They say "from Pitlochry to the world" on the label, but sometimes when you go there and look at the car number plates, you feel like Pitlochry is the world. Now the folks at Signatory really have more than a few tricks up their sleeve, offering some truly lovely whiskies at sensible prices (and a few absolute gems that are a touch pricier, mind you). Well played. Colour: deep gold. Nose: boot polish and a bag of old walnuts, an antique hunting rifle that hasn’t fired a shot in a hundred years, thyme and lime blossom infusions, then the much-anticipated parade of chocolates in all forms. Quite the spectacle! Mouth: absolutely spot on, with dark chocolate, espresso, dried raisins, peppers and chillies (not too much), maraschino and a sliver of Iberian ham. The strength is just perfect. Finish: here come the bitter oranges, hints of bitter beer, and a few sour cherries in eau-de-vie. Green pepper lingers in the very dry aftertaste. Comments: absolutely impeccable, beautifully dry and oloroso-y.
SGP: 561 - 85 points.

Attention distillers and master blenders, a new appellation, "Médoc Blanc," has been announced in Bordeaux. This will likely mean new high-quality dry white wines, in addition to those from Graves/Pessac and the 'simple' dry Bordeaux Blancs from the great châteaux (such as Sauternes or Mouton, Cos, Lynch, Chasse-Spleen, etc.), which should be able to use this new designation in the near future. And make more of them.

Check the index of all Aberfeldy we've tasted so far