WF’s Little Duos, today young Aberlour


March 10, 2025

WF’s Little Duos, today young Aberlour

We’re trying to catch up with the A'bunadh, but every time we taste a batch, another one comes out — it’s a real curse. A'bunadh was hugely successful among malt enthusiasts when it launched in the late 1990s because the selling point — “we blend very old whiskies with younger ones, which is why there’s no age statement” — seemed credible twenty-five years ago, and quite possibly was! Of course, with the rise of NAS whiskies, we now laugh ourselves silly at that. On the other hand, no one dares use that kind of selling point these days — or so it seems. Oh, and A'bunadh? Still tastes great.

Filling your own bottle of 'Aberlour Glenlivet' at the
Distillery in 2003 (MM Archive, Krishna Nukkala)

Aberlour 12 yo 'Double Cask Matured' (40%, OB, +/-2024)

It’s the usual bourbon and sherry combo, a proper old-school classic. We did quite enjoy a batch from 2020 (WF 84), which felt rather serious despite the now somewhat unfashionable low strength. By the way, the packaging has changed since 2020. Colour: deep gold. Nose: classic Aberlour fruitiness, with cherries and other stone fruits, touches of varnish and kirsch, along with marzipan (the kirsch-laced kind!) and a few amaretti. Some panettone shows up too – you know how much we love panettone, don’t you? And there’s even a hint of mirabelle eau-de-vie, that typical one from France’s Eastern Marches. Mouth: drier and more on the woody side now, with notes of tobacco, dark chocolate and bitter orange. A handful of raisins pop up as well, but it’s noticeably drier this time, though still very pleasant. It feels less of an ‘allrounder’ compared to the last batch. Finish: not that short, fairly oaky, still carrying tobacco and chocolate, plus a faint leathery touch. Some walnuts in the aftertaste. Comments: if a little bitterness doesn’t scare you off, this offers very good bang for your buck.
SGP:451 - 85 points.

Aberlour ‘A’bunadh Batch #80’ (61%, OB, Spanish oloroso butts, 2023)

Good grief, we’re always running behind – this one came out in 2023! The last batch we tasted, back in December 2024, was #77, which had also been released in 2023. We’ll never catch up, shall we? The market’s probably already on batch #85! Colour: deep gold. Nose: powerful, rounded and, as expected, heavily on fruitcake. Lovely notes of beeswax coat the whole thing. I think we’d better add water straight away… With water: plenty of fresh glue, fig leaves, freshly sawn wood, ground coriander seeds and raw chocolate, all still wrapped in that lovely beeswax. The fruitcake notes aren’t as exuberant as anticipated, but who’s complaining? Mouth (neat): ultra-powerful, and once again dominated by walnut wine and bitter orange zest. Truth be told, we’re quite fond of this style, though we know water can completely turn things around… With water: here comes the malty sweetness, dried figs, currants, fir honey and a good dollop of marmalade. This is when it really starts to shine. Finish: long, spicier and simply more ‘oloroso’, though perhaps just a tad too spicy. Comments: in my humble opinion, this remains a lovely beast, nearly up there with its ancestor, Aberlour ‘100 proof’, one of the great NAS bottlings from the mid-1990s.
SGP:561 – 87 points.

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