Aberfeldy 12 + 18 Reviews

Hello everyone,

Aberfeldy is a malt I'd heard of but never really tried. Mainly because I didn't want to fork out money on the low abv and it can be quite obscure.

I had a bottle bought for me for Christmas though, so let's see how it tastes.

Courtesy of Master of malt

Aberfeldy 12 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather, honey, a little floral, some heathery smoke, wood smoke, green oak, some lemon, a little vanilla and toffee. More lemon after a bit.

Water: A drop (Not going full Ralfy-Mode) reveals more smoke, ashes, beeswax and orchard fruit.

Taste: Sweet arrival, toffee, going quite juicy with pear, then lemon, fizzy lemon sherbet, developing some harsh sappy oak. Soot and oak into the finish.

Water: More gentle arrival then more smoke with ashes.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Harsh oak and chocolate and a little lemon.

Notes: Batch 2905. Shame about the harsh oak, but still very quaffable. Not as good as the 18yo but more smoke.

68/100

Finished my bottle in a week, which is very unusual for me. Would normally take my a month.

I also tasted the 18yo in Heathrow, so here's my notes from that brief tasting:

Courtesy of Master of Malt

Aberfeldy 18 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather, honey, rich sweet sherry, sweet fruit- Apple, vanilla, quite cakey.

Taste: Quite rich, heather, honey, some vanilla, fruity sherry, cherry, cherry chocolate.

Finish: Medium length. Cherry chocolate (the natural dark stuff) and a touch of smoke.

Notes: Less smoke than the 12yo but more complex. Pleasant, gentle, nice complexity and fullness for 40%.

74/100

Reviews #74-#75

Score Average: 77.9

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent