Oh glorious Aberlour A’Bunadh, where have you been all my whisky-drinking life? 

Okay.  Let me back up and tell you about the whisky, and why it is a new favorite of mine.

Located in the Speyside region of Scotland, Aberlour Distillery has been making whisky since 1879.  Their stills are onion shaped, which produce a dense spirit.  Aberlour’s core lineup includes a 12yo, 16yo, 18yo, and this cask strength A’Bunadh. The latter, and subject of this review, is bottled at cask strength and is non-chill filtered.  Batch 54 comes in at a hearty 60.7% abv.  A’Bunadh spends it’s entire life maturing in Oloroso sherry casks.  In other words, a cask strength sherry bomb!  Let’s dive into specifics.

The nose features a slightly waxy character, with hints of dry sherry, raisins, nuts, citrus and some ginger.  On the palate, a splash of water really opens this whisky up.  It’s dominated by notes of dried fruit, cocoa, dark toffee and oak spice.  A touch of orange peel shows up faintly, and oak tannins appear on the back of the palate.  The long finish features spiced fruit cake and bittersweet dark chocolate.  

What a rich, decadent whisky!  A’Bunadh is the only Aberlour whisky that matures exclusively in sherry casks.  All others spend some time in ex-bourbon casks.  That really sets this bottling apart.  As this whisky is batched, each release will be slightly different.  Just makes me want to try subsequent batches.  8.5/10

Thanks to Aberlour for the sample.  As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.