1 of 324 bottles produced from a single bourbon cask.
A 21 year old single malt from the Aberlour Distillery, independently bottled by Montgomerie's as part of the Rare Select series. This one was distilled back in February 1996 and filled into a single bourbon cask, then left alone for 21 years before being bottled in September 2017 at 46% ABV. A tasty chance to see the non-sherried side of Aberlour.
TASTING NOTES
Nose
Toffee apple, black pepper, toasted sesame seeds and sugary shortbread.
Palate
Golden syrup, sponge cake, cinnamon rolls and leafy herbs.
Finish
A few hints of ginger and black tea on the finish.
The range is large, with many different variations on ex-Sherry and ex-Bourbon cask matured whiskies – some mixed, some 100%, others finished. Its greatest cult following is for the small batch, 100% Sherry-matured, cask-strength variant A’Bunadh which has run since 2000. Aberlour was also one of the first distilleries to offer a ‘bottle your own’ whisky to visitors.
The first distillery in the village of Aberlour was established in 1825 and ran until 1833, when the co-lessees James and John Grant left to build their own distillery, Glen Grant, in Rothes. The current distillery was the brainchild of James Fleming who built it in 1879 using water from St. Drostan’s Well, named after an early Columban monk, which is situated on the site.
Like many Victorian distilleries, it burnt down and, in 1898, had to be rebuilt. During World War II when the distillery was on short-term working, locals used to smuggle wash up the Aberlour burn and distil illicitly under the Linn Falls.
The distillery became part of Campbell Distillers in 1945, passing into the Pernod Ricard stable in 1974, the year after it had been expanded from two to four stills and wholly modernised internally. Its ownership has long given it a strong following in France. It is now part of Pernod’s whisky division, Chivas Brothers.
