Aberfeldy 16... We were impressed with the 12 (Sean excepted), definitely a good value buy and delivered some classic highland flavors. We're looking forward to seeing what an Oloroso finish does to it. It's been fun playing around with the different expressions of the same distillate aged in different barrels.
Finished in Oloroso sherry, 40% ABV, $100 CAD.
We sniff around.
Sean starts off with honey, sticky sweetness. Scott gets a tangy sweetness, syrup. Simon gets a standard Oloroso sherried scotch dried ripe fruit sweetness, syrupy is good too.
Trevor brings up the smoothness, easy sniffer.
Kyle gets a medium rare steak aroma. We like the idea but our noses don't take us there. Says banana too. We get that a bit more but you gotta dig.
We cheers.
Simon says it's light but doesn't feel diluted. It's a bright fruitiness to it. Butterscotchy finish. Nice fizzy spice. Nice oakiness to it. The Oloroso pops. Strawberry jammy sweetness.
Scott gets a dark chocolate and coffee. Simon likes that, he thinks what he's calling oak might be better described as dark chocolate or coffee.
Sean points to the nice balance on this. We agree. The spice is almost like pepper.
Trevor gets a cherry on the nose now. Says you this would be a good one to give a newbie.
Reviews: Scott really enjoys this. Solid improvement on the 12. Gets better in every way. Would pick up a bottle in a heartbeat for $100 CAD. He likes the dark chocolate with the dark fruity syrup. Lands on 80. Trevor is on the same page, easy to drink, overall very balanced good flavor profile. 82. There's some redemption for Aberfeldy with Sean. He thinks the finish is too light but overall it's a fine scotch. Goes 70. Put Simon down for 74. He likes the Oloroso that pops. Nice balance, well done, nice medium strength flavors. Kyle likes it. His palate is acclimating to higher proof whiskies, so the 40% are slowly losing appreciation for him, but still he can't deny it's a good scotch, so he gives it 72. Averages out to 75.6.
Overall: This is a crowd pleaser. This would be a sherry bomb at cask strength, but cut down it has mellow balanced fruity syrup sweet flavors, some nice things going on the edges, and we all like it. You're getting a fair value on this one. Our rating scale puts $100 at the tipping point so that $100 scotches get rated the same on value as their overall rating. So at 75.6 overall this is right on what we expect to get. This improves on the Aberfeldy 12, but the flavors are strong enough that it's hard to see the 12 through the 16. The sherry casks used for this are definitely potent.
Cheers!
The S&P Crew
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