Scotch Blogging

Aberlour A'Bunadh
Last trip to Bev Mo I spied a scotch I'd not tried before, Aberlour A'Bunadh. Its a Speyside. Since I'm back on NHE and can't really partake of wine or beer very readily, I'll start reviewing scotches instead. For all you whiskey lovers, cheers!

The first thing to notice, beyond the annoyance of the wax cap that needs to be peeled off, is the beautiful caramel color. This scotch is darker than most in color. It casts a wonderful rich hue on the white table beneath the glass. The smell of the sherry plugs are evident from the moment you bring the glass to your face. It also smells really smooth, with barely a hint of the medicinal smell many popular scotches exhibit.

The taste is just as smooth as expected. Swishing the liquor around the mouth causes no sharpness at all on the tongue. The Oak taste is dominant, with strong overtones of powdered ginger and cherry. There's a slight, pleasant bite at the back of the palate as you swallow followed quickly by strong aftertastes of pepper, sherry and, slightly weaker, oak. The taste is as rich as the color and the silky, creamy body.

A fine scotch here on all counts. How to rank? Let's use the glass scale of 0-5, with 0 being nearly undrinkable and 5 being heathered heaven. A drinkable, nondescript scotch like The Glenlivet 12 year single malt can be pegged at the middle of 2.5 glasses. Given this scale, I'd rank Aberlour A'Bunadh a solid 4.5 out 5. This scotch is easily the match of something like a MacCallan 18, which is saying a lot. Sip it nice and slow. If the flavor had a little more character it would get the 5.