An Aberlour bored to pieces by a sherry cask
Independently bottled Aberlour used to be a rare thing, but leave it to the wizard at Signatory to uncover something in the vast maturing stocks in those warehouses near the Edradour Distillery. This is where Signatory built their headquarters over twenty years ago. I have already seen a Small Batch Aberlour release by Signatory, and now we found a single cask that seems like a singled out version of the A’Bunadh series, including the incredible abv.
Aberlour is a popular brand, and I count it among my firsts to get me into malt whisky. The distillery is undergoing a major expansion, almost doubling the size. According to the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2026 the new equipment should be commissioned this summer, and then Aberlour can produce 7.6 million litres per year. When I passed the distillery a few weeks ago, work still seemed well underway. Let us hope they took into account the low tides in Scotch economics! But maybe the operation was done with the eye on working more efficiently, and will we then see the closure of another distillery? It seems the fate of Glen Keith Distillery, for instance, to be mothballed every so many years. Who knows. Stick around for a Glen Keith tasting note next week!
Aberlour 14 years old, vintage 2012, bottled at 61,5 % abv by Signatory Vintage
First things first: First fill Oloroso sherry butt # 3 produced 658 bottles of this even more muscled version of the Aberlour A’Bunadh. Distilled on 15 March 2012, it was bottled almost exactly 14 years later, on 26 March 2026. Very recent stuff in the Cask Strength Collection.
Upon Sipping: Opens on a strong hint of ozone, with on the heels of that immediately a dose of deep red almost purple cherries. So far so good. The sherried wood notes are dominant, leaving nothing to the imagination. Taking a sip, I cannot not hide the fact that this is quite harsh and wooded, and therefore a little disappointing. Let’s see if water helps it along. The nose is deepened with intensity, nothing to complain about here. Some furniture of shoe polish, and after some breathing more chocolate character. It follows that line on the tastebuds, chocolate and wood, but a disturbing absence of fruity notes. Where did the cherries go? It is almost abundantly one-dimensional.
Word to the Wise: Let’s be honest here: this is a boring cask that even the Aberlour spirit, that is known for handling sherry casks well, cannot stand up to. The result is an overly wooded experience and a saddening lack of beautiful fruit notes. I miss a proper A’Bunadh!
Score: 83 points.