It’s bold – we’ll give them that. The whisky itself is actually a fine combo of smoke, sweet, citrus, and wood – although failing to properly bring them together. No, we say it’s bold because it looks very nice and well defined, but then you read what is being said. In short, we’re a site that’s built on honesty, and often we find what people say about their product to be a load of spunk – but we sort of revel in the sheer audacity of Aberfeldy.
Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado – War & Peace.
What they Say: “Bottle Back: Scottish alchemy: turning water, barley and yeast into liquid gold is simpler when the stream tumbling towards you contains that precious metal. Built on land famous for deposits of gold, our distillery has welcomed travelers to taste its treasures since 1898.
Bottle Front: We lose over a third to the angels.
Mellowed for twelve years in handmade oak casks, this smooth, sweet dream offers rich rewards for those who like to dig deeper.
By appointment to her majesty Queen Elizabeth II, scotch whisky distillers John Dewar & Sons Ltd. Perth, Scotland.
Awarded 24 gold medals.
- 2005 Gold: International wine & spirits comp – United Kingdom.
- 2007 Gold: World spirits competition – San Francisco.
- 2012 Gold: Monde selection – Belgium.
Box:
The site of our distillery was chosen for its supply of good water and the railway that linked it to Perth. The Puggy Engine. Brought barley for our maltings and oak for our coopers before conducting the precious golden liquid to market. The Puggy engine resides at the distillery to this day.
The pool of the water God. The PITILIE BURN. The burn is the source of the distillery’s water. Pure and fresh the burn is known to contain deposits of alluvial gold.
OUR HANDSOME DISTILLERY is sited on the river Tay in the CENTRAL HIGHLANDS of Scotland, a stone’s throw from the birthplace of our founder, and PIONEER of BLENDING, JOHN DEWAR. With land acquired from the MARQUESS of BREADALBANE and architecture designed by Charles Doig, the distillery rose up to begin production in 1898.
IN JOHN’S BONNIE HOMETOWN OF ABERFELDY, his family found men who knew the secrets of superb whisky. Today, we still use time-honoured techniques like long fermentation to conjure rare honeyed notes, and draw water from the PITILIE BURN, renowned for its quality and PROMISE of GOLD.
MELLOWED FOR 12 YEARS in handmade oak casks, this smooth, sweet dram offers rich rewards for those who like to DIG DEEPER. We lose a fair bit to angels though, almost a third of every cask has disappeared into the ether before we’re ready to bottle.”
Taste: 6.0 – You really get a more sweet and citrus-like flavor at the start, almost sugary even.
Aftertaste: 7.0 – The backend though is devoted not to smoke, but to that woody and peat-like flavors. Here is where you really enjoy it, but the initial taste brings some odd components.
Burn/Smooth: 6.0 – It gives some warmth, but there is certainly a twinge moment on your face of burn.
Aroma: 8.0 – It’s not islay, but damn is it a nice peaty Highland scotch smell. There’s other stuff going on though with some sort of citrus and almost minty/flowerly sort of aromas. It overall though smells amazing, and what you want from a good single malt.
Honesty: 6.0 – Their text is in 3 words – extensive, and buck-wild. The black and gold look though works well for them, and some of their stories are actually pretty good – it’s sort of almost too much to hate it that we’ve circled back to admire the honesty of how ridiculous it is.
Mixability: 5.0
W/ Rocks: 5.0 – You lose some of that peaty, and the sort of sugar/honey taste becomes the centerpiece – which is why this actually gets a lower score. While that taste is fine, this is near Rusty Nail level flavor when what you really wanted was something more open, or smoky, but overall less singular honey.
Value: 5.5 – It does have some nice components, and that price is on the cheaper side, but having tried this we don’t see any reason to ever do so again which is a bad mark. It overall becomes what you’d expect to pay.
Google Shop Average: $42
Website: https://www.aberfeldy.com/
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 6.0
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Metric Score: 43.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.21 |+| Reviewer Average: 6.0
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Final Thoughts: We may seem down saying things like we’ll never buy this again, but really this isn’t a bad scotch by any real means. However when your rocks game is just a more muted take instead of different but also good whiskey – and your highest score is the smell – well it just doesn’t leave an impact.
