Aberlour 18 Year Double Cask Matured

Hot and fruity

Nose: Honey, peach, caramel, very sweet with a touch of oak and vegetation. A bit of red grape skin, citrus, and coca powder come through after it rest for a few moment. This smells heavenly. Pallet: Sweet fruity ripe plum, honey, honey crisp apple, necturne, slight spice and oak, orange and rind bitterness. I can hold this in my mouth forever and it never reaches a level of spice that makes me want to swallow. Very well balanced, and deep with character. Finish: Dark chocoate, slight oak char. This is not a complex finish, but one that is very enjoyable and lingers for a very long time. Nose round 2: Dark chocolate is now in the foreground. Rich red fruits sitting just below it. Kind of like Brookhaven chocolates. Not sure where Henzel got this bottle for $70, but I would buy every bottle they had. The 16 year goes for that price where I am. With that said, I would go out of my way to find this bottle if mine starts to run low. This is a fantastic bottle that I will be enjoying for many months in my rotation.

Smells very caramelly, but it tastes of vanilla, and just a touch of fruit. It's thick and the taste is deep.

A bonus offering from @Scott_E for our final trading round. The only other Aberlour I’ve had was the Abundah. I actually liked this one better—-less syrupy, a bit more balanced with flavors of fruit and vanilla. Scott provided a generous enough sample where I was able to experiment 1/2 with a single cube of ice, the other neat with just a drop or two of water. Neat is by far more preferred. It retains the sweet fruit backbone, while with ice it brings out a lemon rind bitterness. Skip the ice. Thanks Scott for the pour!