EScotland, Central Highlands: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Aberfeldy

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Aberfeldy distillery
Aberfeldy Distillery
Aberfeldy, Perthshire,
PH15 2EB
+44 1887 822 011
Owner: John Dewar's and sons (Bacardi Ltd)
Creation date: 1896

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Build on the site of the old Pitlie brewery by John and "Whisky Tom" Dewar, sons of Thomas Dewar, first scottish blender, the Aberfeldy distillery is settled in the heart of the Grampian mountains and is one of the rare distilleries from the South of the Highlands.
It is situated East from the Aberfeldy village. The oldest buildings date back to 1896 and the distillery opened in 1898.
Tom Dewar was a businessman with character. He was the third owner of a motor car in UK.
John was a wine and spirits merchant in Perth and was one of the pioneers in the blend whisky production.
He acquired the land from the Marquis of Breadalbane. In 1925, the Dewar brothers joined together with other blenders, Walker and Buchanan. Except during the war years, Aberfeldy has never stopped its production
The distillery has been completely refurbished in 1972.
The whisky production is essentially dedicated to production of blends. The distillery was originally build by John Dewar to produce the malt needed for the production of his blends. The single malt from Aberfeldy enters in the composition of the famous blend Dewar's White Label, Scottish Leader and Johnnie Walker.
Since the 1960's the distillery has a direct rail link with the warehouses of Dewar, situated in Perth.
The original architecture of the distillery shows the evolution in the distillation of malt, from the small scale farm production to the industrial stage. The buildings were designed in the shape of a great line, where barley enters at the one end, and whisky comes out at the other.
The distillery buys currently its malt from the Glenesk Maltings in Montrose.
The wash backs are made in wood.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

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Aberfeldy: official bottlings
 

Aberfeldy 12 years

Age
 12 years
Alcohol 40°
Bottler Official
Price/litre =25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 Aberfeldy 12
 

The nose is very perfumed, orange zest, incense and is slightly smoky. Sherry touches are detected.
The whisky is light and pleasant in the mouth, oily and fruity; A tangerine taste. The tastes are very fresh and perfumed.
The finish is long and fruity.

(la Maison du Whisky)

 The distillery produces mainly for blends (Dewar). It single malt (at least this 12 y.o. version) is rather disappointing. The impression is that this whisky is rough and its fragrances not very refined.

The second tasting did not take away the feeling of a rough whisky, however the citrus fruit aromas and the sherry hints, combined with a relatively long and slightly smoky finish made me change my first quotation, which seems to be difficult to explain. Probably the mood at the tasting time... This whisky is rather good.

The nose is marked by slightly bitter smells and by a touch of smoke. In the palate, the taste is rather pleasant, marked by the malt and a discrete touch of citrus fruits. The whisky remains relatively austere, but not unpleasant. A clear oily impression... This is strange, because during the first tasting, the impression left by this whisky was roughness and dryness... This is probably due to aeration. The finish is rather short and leaves some malted and citrus memories, but rather flat however.

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Aberfeldy: independent bottlings
 

Aberfeldy 10 years
Provenance
Autumn distillation

Age
 10 years
Alcohol
 43°
Bottler
 Douglas Laing
Particularity
 Non chill filtered
=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 aberfeldy 10 Provenance
 Colour: white wine
Nose: honey, spring flowers and sweet spices. The body is light to medium, with a sensation of fruits and spices in the mouth.
The finish, even if it is a bit short, is sweet and well structured.
 The nose does not detect malt or pepper as with Edradour, another distillery of this region. Slight discrete hints of spice characterise the smell of this rather dry whisky, though pleasant to drink. This Provenance version gave me a quite better feeling than the official 12 y.o. one, although the finish is too short and the whole does not have much depth. But it is a good bottling, which has its place in each good whisky collection.

A rather discrete and perfumed nose, with honeyish sweetness. In the palate, the same impression of sweetness with a malted and slightly spicy background. A relatively short finish, but not unpleasant. This whisky is too sweet for me, but I can imagine other people really can like it.

The nose is slightly spicy and develops rather smooth fruity hints, ripe apple, melon. In the palate, smoothness dominates too, honey and fruits on a barley background with discrete spicy touches. Finish is quite pleasant, however too short.
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Central Highlands

Central Highlands map

The County of Perth, between the Lowlands and the Higlands is famous for its hilly landscapes.
About one hundred distilleries were settled in the area during the 19th century, and just a few of them survived, and some others were build during the 20th century. The area is wider than just the Perth county, as Dalwinnie, in the South of Inverness county is also included in that area.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
about the Central Highlands area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please
click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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