Aberfeldy 21 Year

Nose: Orange water, dilute honey, malt and vanilla. The nose is very shy when first poured but gains quite a bit of weight after it has rested for a while. Warm malty notes emerge together with a well-integrated sherry and leather quality that is very pleasant. With more time a definite waxiness appears. [The dry-glass aroma is hefty sherried honey and malt with a wisp of smoke]. Palate: A very soft, sweet, silken and luxurious arrival with gallons of sweet orange juice and some leathery sherried malt. The development is meagre when first poured due to the low proof and the whisky needs time to open in the glass before the development's full potential is realized. Once it has opened there are sultana, red cherry, raisin, plum and grassy notes and the same waxiness that is detectable on the nose appears in the palate. The excellent initial texture fades and turns slightly oily but thin. Finish: Medium/short. Honeyed malt and herbal notes with a breath of spice that quickly disappears. The nose is very good indeed but the palate, whilst delightful, is cruelly hamstrung by the low proof and the finish is sadly abbreviated. It is a subtle malt, however, and it needs a surprising amount of time to open. The nose (which is elegant and fine to begin with) improves markedly after 20 minutes gaining depth and fullness. The palate also improves but this expressionis criminally weak. If it was released at 46% abv (or more) it would be a magnificent dram that could rival Highland Park 18 and the better Old Pulteneys. What a crying shame. As it stands it's a very good malt but it doesn't quite make it to excellent. If it was priced below AUD$200 I'd say it was a reasonable buy, but the current price of $250 it is simply too much for what it is. However, if it was bottled at 46% it would probably challenge anything else in the $250 bracket and become a recommended buy. "Very Good" : 85/100 (4 stars)

Not a bad drop despite it weighing in at 40%. Not really a lot to get excited about just a solid down the middle standard honey, oak, vanilla affair. Decent mouth feel but slightly bitter finish which after a while really bugs me.

Nose: sweet and fruity Body: oily but light Palate: sweet and smooth. Berries? Finish: quiet

Fruity nose - hints of cherry. Nice fruity taste, slight peat. Extremely mellow and smooth.

Lets start from the truth: i am not a big fan of speysiders, and i usually give low scores to aberfeldy which i almost always try to avoid at all costs. Having said that, this is an exception to both of those statements. This one is a good expression. Bottled at 40%abv, tawny color. On the nose is a classic speysider, or as i like calling them: "the apple juices". Honey, green apples, honey Corn flakes, Cinnamon , Nutmeg, vanilla Cream. Nothing too impressive. On the palate it was actually a lot better: Red fruits, Cider, Oaky very pleasant and Honey. Finish is very long with hints of cider too. I scored this dram like this: nose: 20/25; palate 24/25; finish 25/25; balance: 22/25 and it gave me a very fair 91 over 100 for this good dram. Maybe it feels like an 88 over 100, but anyways it is a good whisky.