Aberlour 1994 Review

Country: Scotland

Region: Speyside

Brand: Aberlour 1994 Carn Mor (Celebration of the Cask Series)

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Age: 17 Years

Alcohol: 61.9%

Tasting Date: 09/01/2014

Colour: Yellow Gold

Nose: Give this Aberlour sufficient time to breathe. The Alcohol is quite strong of course given the high ABV. Cask # 4669 was a good one in my opinion. I find plenty of Wood Spice (mainly Cinnamon and Pepper) as well as Fine Oak and Espresso. I also get Malt, Toast, Honey, Dried Apricot, Nuts, Red Fruit and a lovely Apple-Pie with Raisins and warm Vanilla sauce. It's not a complicated Nose but quite compact and mature. A slightly lower ABV of around 50% would most likely have improved it even more.

Taste: Bitter-Sweet with Grapefruit, Mandarin, Papaya, Toffee, Honey, Oak, Mint, Nutmeg and Pepper. A light Alcohol sting.

Finish: Quite Long and Bitter-Sweet with Fresh Grapefruit Juice, Lemon, Mint, Pepper and Nutmeg. 

With a bit of Water the Alcohol retreats of course and the Fruit and Espresso become quite prominent on the Nose. On the Palate I find additional Tropical Fruit. You can, and probably should, experiment with a couple of drops at the time.  

Rating: 84

Nose: 22 – Taste: 21 – Finish: 20 – Overall: 21

General Remarks: The Aberlour Distillery was founded in 1826 and had to be reconstructed in 1879 after a huge fire. Today it is owned by Chivas Brothers Ltd, part of Pernod-Ricard from France. The Aberlour I am tasting today was distilled on June 14, 1994 and was bottled at Cask Strength on June 26, 2011 by Carn Mor. This Single Malt is Naturally Coloured, not Chill-Filtrated and matured in a Hogshead with Cask # 4669. Only 268 Bottles are/were available at around 110 US Dollars each. 

Drinking Experience Neat: Good, but not quite my style.

Conclusion: This is certainly an interesting Single Malt. I quite enjoyed the Nose. A nice balance between Wood Spice and (Dried) Fruit with lovely Notes of fresh Espresso and Apple Pie. A lower ABV would have benefited this Aberlour in my opinion. The Palate and the Finish however are Bitter-Sweet and even slightly Sour. And that's not my favourite flavour profile. Still, if you love Grape Fruit, this could be the perfect Whisky at your Saturday Morning Breakfast Table!

Jan van den Ende                                                          January 2014     

    The Mashtun in Aberlour