Aberfeldy 10yo Provenance
Douglas Laing | 46% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Honest praise and a great indie
You can’t please everyone all at once
Not so long ago, our beloved in-house photographer and all-round Drambassador Dougie reviewed the ubiquitous Aberfeldy 12. Finding it to be everything he expected it to be, which meant an inoffensive and neutered, coloured, chill-filtered malt whisky. Quite thankfully on top of that, also a bottle which was the perfect background to lengthy after dinner chats with his dad. As always with ol’ Doog, it’s a wonderful read sprinkled with stunning images.
So the classic Aberfeldy 12yo, while not being an intricate and complex tasting experience, might indeed serve a perfect purpose. As enthusiasts, I think we might benefit in trying some more affordable or mass market-oriented bottles from time to time. We might find a hidden gem or, like in Dougie’s case, understand that these whiskies are made for the vast majority of the whisky drinkers which we are not a part of. They are good at serving us more as a social lubricant than a tasting experience.
There is, however, room for everything and everyone in the whisky world, and there are plenty of whiskies which are 46% and above, not chill-filtered and without caramel added. These we, as whisky botherers, can enjoy. In fact more than we could ever dream to taste. Everyone knows the feeling, right?
Aberfeldy’s entry level 12 was only able to score a 4/10 on our scoring system though. Here at Dramface, we aim to write interesting write ups of varying length to introduce our reviews. We hope to give our readers more context, to explain certain aspects of the whisky world, or just because we need a platform to tell whoever is willing to read whatever the hell happened at work today. Thank you for your indulgence, by the way.
But at the end of the day, the whisky is judged on how it fares in a formal tasting session, where it might be compared to some of its peers, poured in a tulip shaped glass rather than a tumbler, and even slightly diluted to help ‘open it up’. Tasting notes are meticulously tapped on a keyboard or smartphone screen, or in the case of yours truly, scribbled on an old notepad with the precision and speed of a tired physician doing after hours on a Friday. In the end, to get a good score, the liquid itself has got to have intrinsic qualities. La preuve est dans le pudding.
This might also be your preferred way of enjoying the amber liquid, or it might not, but if you are wandering around this wee corner of the internet, my guess is you are a bit more involved and interested in whisky than the typical Aberfeldy 12 drinker. Even if you don’t write detailed tasting notes, you probably want the whisky to be the star of the evening, or at least memorable in some way, and you might listen to what your friends or family are saying with an ear while also trying to know if you’re smelling red or green bell pepper with a nostril. Be careful though, they may not tell but they notice your distraction.
That is why distilleries like Aberfeldy often leave us with an impression of incompleteness with their official range, disappointed that they aren’t as engaging and intense flavour-wise as our favourite single malts.
Enter independent bottlers. They’re great, aren’t they ? Allowing us to taste the liquid from these unloved distilleries in a mostly naturally presented way (G&M, Murray McDavid, we see you), at variably affordable prices.
In this respect, I feel like Douglas Laing tends to be a bit overlooked and underrated. They have a great range of blended malts in the form of the Remarkable Regional Malts, varied but sometimes pricey offerings under their Old Particular and XOP ranges, and I hear they own a lot of the remaining stocks of Port Ellen (that’s pre 1983 Port Ellen of course). But most importantly, at least to me, they have a brilliant panel of malts under their Provenance series. Mostly young whiskies, bottled from a single cask or small vattings, reduced to a very quaffable 46% and of course free of chill filtration and the dreaded e150.
These are usually fairly good deals as well, offering, at least around where I live, good value among the other independent bottlers, just like the unchillfiltered and 100 proof ranges from Signatory for example. I remember seeing an 8yo Bowmore from Douglas Laing in the Royal Mile Whiskies shop in Edinburgh for about £68 during my visit just a few weeks ago. I ended up packing my suitcase with other whiskies (you will read about them at some point), but let me tell you, I almost grabbed it, as there aren’t a lot of £68 indie Bowmores to be found these days.
The bottling I’m reviewing today stems from this Provenance series, and might help us enthusiasts find out a bit more about Aberfeldy, and even hopefully connect with the liquid, and not just the moment.
Review
Aberfeldy 10yo, Douglas Laing, Provenance series, French exclusive, unchill-filtered and natural colour, refill barrel n° DL16800, 289 bottles, 46% ABV
RRP is €69.90 (£59) | €60 (£51) paid
Aberfeldy, unlike say Mannochmore, Blair Athol or Linkwood, is actually not that easy to find as an indie bottling. This is probably because it is flooding supermarket shelves around the world, as a single malt, but also as a prominent ingredient in the Dewar’s blends. Bacardi, owner of Dewar’s, understandably needs to hold on to the liquid. In fact the only other independent bottling of Aberfeldy I’ve encountered is one by Decadent Drinks for their Equinox & Solstice range.
So last year, when I saw this appear in the La Maison du Whisky catalogue, I immediately ordered a case for the shop, mainly to secure a bottle for myself. This means that like many bottles that will be reviewed by me in the future, I purchased it at a discount. I will always put the price I paid alongside the RRP in the review title above, if they are different, and I will try my best to judge and score the whisky based on RRP rather than what I pay as an independent stockist. Full disclosure, as always around here.
Now follow on as I grab my whisky pickaxe, and hopefully dig for a gem.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Honest praise and a great indie
Nose
Immediately very fresh and citric, with lemon preserves. Ripe yellow apple cooked in butter. There’s also a herbal side reminiscent of the kind of herbs often mixed with fresh cheese, like chives and parsley. Water veers it slightly more towards the pastry shop, with a lemon meringue pie and an artisan apple turnover.
Palate
It’s not the oiliest malt, but it still has decent body. Great evolution upon the first sip: soft wood spices, then all sorts of lemon, ending on a surprisingly long and elegant finish on toasted hazelnuts and sesame seeds. Water doesn’t work that well on the palate though, thinning the body and bringing a floral side that verges on soapiness. It also blurs all the flavours.
The Dregs
This isn’t the most complex dram of all time, but it is a style I like very much and it is very well done. It is naked, natural, pure malt whisky. Call it what you will. If you are a peat-freak, sherry-head or wine cask addict, this won’t be for you. But then, this refill barrel only yielded 289 bottles after all, so that’s probably for the better. On the other hand, if you like bourbon and refill cask matured whiskies like Glencadam 10, Orchard House or Balblair 12 for example, this is right up your alley.
This will be a perfect spring and summer easy sipper, while still being interesting. The finish in particular is really good for a whisky of this age and style. Dougie, I’ll be sure to keep you a sample of this one for when we finally meet. The score is unchanged by pricing, as in France at least, it’s already pretty good value for a 10yo indie.
Let’s change musical styles a bit today, and listen to this amazing rendition of KT, by Mike Stern in 2011 during the Jazz à Vienne festival. He is accompanied by the crème de la crème of course: Tom Kennedy on bass, the mighty Dave Weckl on drums and the dearly missed Didier Lockwood on violin. Can’t figure out why I see no heads bobbin’ in the crowd.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AF
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