Connoisseurs Choice Aberfeldy 12yo
Gordon & MacPhail UK Exclusive| 56.4% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A delightful marriage of cask and spirit
A Worthy Single Cask Exclusive?
We all love an exclusive now, don’t we? In this era of flipping chasing and flipping everything else, the prospect of a single cask exclusive can be very much like flies around… well, you know the saying and the image it conjures is apt.
These exclusives are used to showcase relationships with a distillery or company and exercise your cask picking abilities. They can lure us onto a website or into a shop, with the prospect of something treasure-like, dangling before us and shining brightly in the rapid current of releases. I’m not much of a fisherman, but over the years, I’ve honed my whisky senses to understand what bottlers, shops and websites are worth keeping tabs on. For when that big fish comes along, it’ll produce a grin wide enough to land you on the front page of Hook, Line and Sinker monthly.
For this article, I’ve cast my net towards Elgin on Speyside and the spiritual home of Gordon & MacPhail. The majority of Scotland’s long established independent bottlers started life as greengrocers, spirit and wine merchants. Serving their respective communities and importing all manner of fine wines, foodstuffs and other delights that must have had the locals crossing the threshold to see what was new. The same beginnings also apply to some of Scotland’s most famous blends, that can trace their roots to a store and a talented individual that started to blend whisky to suit the palate of their clientele.
“Johnnie Walker may monopolise this storyline through its marketing budget, but names such as Cadenhead’s, Bell’s, Dewar’s and of course, Gordon & MacPhail, have experienced a similar journey. ”
The majority of these original establishments have been lost to the ravages of time. A fortunate exception is the Gordon & MacPhail store on Elgin’s South Street, which was opened on 24th May 1895 and hasn’t shut its doors since. The town of Elgin may lack one of Speyside’s big-name distilleries on its doorstep, yet I would encourage you to make the drive and visit the store itself if you’re in the area. Although it has received a modern makeover, there are still echoes of the past and these are celebrated. If you’re fortunate enough to be ushered upstairs, into the offices, you can take in a beautiful room with historical artifacts and the sort of bottles you only see nowadays at auction. Downstairs is a liquid delight, as the whiskies are plentiful and you can easily shop across the majority of Scotland’s distilleries in one handy location. A variety of tastings are available and while I haven’t participated in any of these myself, I have heard good reports from those that have. After all, arguably Scotland’s greatest array of maturing casks remains in the possession of Gordon & MacPhail.
So, on paper at least, the Spiritual Home exclusive cask series dedicated to the Elgin store should be worth keeping an eye on. Representing a special range for Gordon & MacPhail, they have a marvellous inventory to pick from. The series was a quiet affair initially, with some solid picks before things blew up massively last year with an Ardmore that was the 6th bottling in the series. Yep, that Ardmore. A product of 24 years maturation in a superb sherry cask; a rare pairing in harmony. Once word got out, a run descended on the bottles until they were no more. For Gordon & MacPhail, it likely resulted in bringing forward the next bottling unexpectedly, which was always going to have a tough act to follow. A handful of casks have followed since, including a 15 year old Aultmore, which is still available.
The latest expression to pick up the baton in the series is from the Aberfeldy distillery. A plentiful malt, appreciated by blenders over the decades, its single malt presence has been hampered somewhat by its lack of natural presentation. If you dip into the independent realm, or hand fill one of several casks available at the distillery (which is well worth a visit, even if only for a bite to eat), then you’ll have a new found appreciation of what this distillery can do. Despite the limitations of the official core range and its presentation, a keen and acute mind will pick up on the potential that Aberfeldy can offer. Like so many other single malts, the final product is determined by its placement and goals within a mainstream market. The sort of environments that don’t put a huge emphasis on bottling strength, natural colour and filtration. We could go into more detail about Aberfeldy itself, but I want to save that for a revisit and deeper dive of the distillery.
Open all hours
Review
UK Single cask, 2009, Distilled 21/10/09, Bottled 23/11/21, 1st fill sherry hogshead , 56.4% ABV
£74.99 via the G&M website or Elgin shop
This Spiritual Home exclusive is bottled at 12 year of age and 56.4%, my thanks to G&M South Street for the sample. Having resided in a 1st fill sherry hogshead cask for the whole of its maturation, 337 bottles were produced at a reasonable £74.99. Now, that statement might come as a surprise, but having been to the distillery and bottled from the cask previously, it’s about right. I do agree that Gordon & MacPhail whiskies can come at a premium sometimes, with a great deal of emphasis on the actual whisky itself. Yet on paper I’m happy, still let’s see how things stack up after we’ve explored the whisky itself.
Nose
Immediately a rich honeycomb, oaty biscuits and a lick of sherry, with the leather sitting nicely in-between. Into the spice rack with clove, 5-spice, peppercorns and aniseed. Smoked sausage? Yep, it’s in the mix. Very faint cherry, fudge, Highland toffee and hot chocolate. Let’s try a splash of water and see where it takes us… maple syrup, walnuts and fig rolls.
Palate
A chewy texture, bruised red apples, cinnamon and a pleasant oak woodiness. There’s more of the sherry influence coming through now. It’s wholesome and noticeable but not overly domineering. More of the leathery and cherry wood flavours on the finish. Water removes the edginess and wood aspects off the palate and sands things out. If anything, underlining the G&M style of sherry casks; very pleasant drinking.
The Dregs
This is a worthwhile release that’s priced accordingly. Yes, it does have that exclusivity vibe to store visitors or online shoppers in the UK. There are other Aberfeldy’s available it goes without saying. The official range should act as a stepping stone into more natural and cask strength expressions, as we have here.
I can see myself easily pouring this with friends during the evening and sitting back and letting then figure out which distillery this comes from. I doubt they’d guess correctly, as Aberfeldy is off the radar to many and that’s a shame. What would be recognisable is the quality sherry cask deployed to help produce this whisky. It has a graceful nature and brings more to the equation than the seasoned types of sherry casks we’re seeing more of nowadays. So, not a rival to that Ardmore, but a worthy addition to the series and one that has its own merits.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DM
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