Single malt whisky in its purest form: Abhainn Dearg
If I ever tasted something from the Abhainn Dearg Distillery on the Isle of Lewis before, I am not entirely sure about. Perhaps a new make spirit. That is one of the benefits of having a blog, now I just write everything down. When you do not want to blog, there is always Whiskybase. Anyway, Abhainn Dearg, a beautiful name which means Red River, is indeed located in the Outer Hebrides. With a production of just 20.000 litres per year, this is truly a micro distillery. The distillery opened in 2008 and was the first in the Outer Hebrides (or at least: on Lewis) since 1840. Since 2015, of course, there is also the Harris Distillery on the neighbouring Isle of Harris. It is getting busy over there on these faraway islands! With Abhainn Dearg, you get a very local product, with the barley used for distillation grown on the island. There does not seem to be clear release scheme. In my collection, I once acquired a single cask 10 years old, with age statement and all. My good friend Robbert handed down a sample of a no age stated expression, which we will taste today.
Abhainn Dearg, bottled at 46 % abv
First things first: I could not find a satisfying Whiskybase page for this particular mini bottling. According to the box, this is non-chill filtered, natural cask colour, bottled by hand from a single cask. It is single malt Scotch whisky, so at least 3 years old.
Upon Sipping: The colour is extremely pale and the aroma coming from the glass is close to new make spirit. Lots of barley, dry husk and sweet mash. Whiffs of smoke, maybe even in the direction of peat, but I actually do not know if peated production is made at Abhainn Dearg. In any case, the whisky smells authentic, with an old soul. On their website, the distillery writes about the first fields of barley being planted being with the Golden Promise variant. Once a big name! The smell remains close to the barley, with sour notes leaning towards something unsavoury. We dare take a sip, and indeed, this is a very pure and artisanal product. Rather sweet and watery on the palate, but therefor also friendly, but with a slightly bitter finish that does reveal some fruity notes. Abhainn Dearg puts the MALT in this single malt, and for that I can only applaud them! I am actually quite charmed by this hidden gem. Of course, it is not anywhere near what you would expect from a modern whisky you buy in your local liquor store, and that is exactly the point. With water: a more warm aroma coming from the glass, with some banana bread on top of it.
Word to the Wise: A delightfully authentic, almost naive whisky, produced in such a way that you can almost taste the muddy hands of the farmer who harvested the barley. Totally un-commercial but that seems very much the point. Ballsy move to not cover up the spirit in elaborate cask management with STR and wine casks.
This is real whisky, almost straight from the still. Bonus points for that!
Score: 78 points.