Aberlour A'bunadh

Starts with a high alcohol kick and a bit smoke, add some drops of water you will get lots of cherry, sweetness, wood and spicy finish. Im all for high proof bourbons, so I like this scotch very much!

Cask 62 Rich feel, vanilla and fruity notes

I've finally gotten around to this one! I've been missing out. My only prior experience with heavily sherried whiskeys has been Macallan, which I admire but do not love (except the 18, which is wonderful but ridiculously overpriced). This cask strength Aberlour has so much intense red fruit (black cherries and raspberries), spice and oak - it smells wonderful, it tastes wonderful. I just love it. With a pretty decent amount of water it just becomes so approachable and the nose and the palate become sweeter and friendlier. I haven't been this excited about a scotch in a while. This is Batch 62 by the way. One other note - I've seen a lot of complaints about a massive price increase. Thankfully, that isn't the case in Northern California ($67) and this is still a screaming deal given that you are essentially getting 1.5 bottles for the price. Love this, and may stock up in case they bump the price up here as well.

This is for batch 62. Nose: Coffee with cream, sweet tobacco, plums, raisins, toast with cherry jam Palate: Sweet and juicy. Warm raisins in butter tart. Overripe dark fruit in desert. Toffee candy corn. Finish: Ginger spice, leather, overripe sour apples, oily with a lingering sweetness. Overall: A perfect sherried scotch. Smooth, oily sweet, but not too much. Coats the mouth with a complex cacophony of flavours.

One of my favorite, super strong

NOSE: Chocolate raisins. Chocolate pretzels. Chocolate dried apricots. Chocolate cherries. Caramel chocolate. Sea salt chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate? Vanilla bean, too. PALATE: Fire neat. Add spoonfuls of water until palatable. Sharp zesty fresh apricot. Oak char hits you like a fat cigar in your mouth. Spicy chili finish is fast and furious. OVERALL: If you find the Aberlour 18 too tame, go Abunadh. For most people the 18 gives you deeper flavor with less face slapping involved.