Aberlour 18 Year Old

A lovely malt, flavourful, smooth, and sophisticated.

A great start, @GregLogan! Aberlour makes wonderful stuff.

@dbk - Thanks. As is evident, this is all very new to me - I get excited - and perhaps disappointed - maybe a little too easily. Ultimately, I will mature with more experience and bring to bear something meaningful - I look forward to that process. I have found that Scotch is a sort of many splendored experience. The tastes of today are not necessarily the same of tomorrow - some seem more consistent than others. I remember a small bit of disappointment with the Laph Triple Wood after I just received it. However, after a few weeks, it has settled into my go-to scotch - totally consistent and quality. Victor has shared with me the benefit of letting the scotch air a bit - and in this instance I think a couple weeks worked wonders.

Just a follow up - I have decided, as a complete newbie, that it is appropriate to work my way half way through a bottle before venturing a review to make certain I have half a clue what I am talking about. My on-going experience with Aberlour 18y has generally been quite consistent - Victor noted smooth and I agree - while the HP18 has definitely gotten better from the initial opening, I notice there is still a bit of a bite there whereas I don't notice that with the AB18. Oddly, the Ardbeg Uigeadail seems to have lost a lot of the initial sweetness and sorted of descended into a smoke filled abyss.... I hope that changes since that the sherry power was what I enjoyed and smoke only minimally. I do not especially notice smoke with the Ab18 - the sweetness has been maintained.

@GregLogan, I generally think it's a good idea to resample a whisky numerous times before reviewing it. My impression of a particular whisky can vary widely from sample to sample, but tends to settle into something quite consistent with time. I doubt you and I are alone on this!

dbk - Right you are - complex material especially for the novitiate...

BTW - I would appreciate any insight into some of the negative effects of the alcohol, e.g. burning in mouth and stomach, etc. A little is fine - but continued sipping after a couple days does seem to produce some physical challenges from my wimpy body.

OK, ok, ok - I get it now... just develop mouth callouses... Actually it is the Uigeadail and a'Bunadh that sort of tough on the tissues - under 48% doesn't seem so bad.

Update (04/15/12) - As I have "matured" (that is, from 1 month to 2 months - a 100% maturation...), I have slightly downgraded the Ab18 - quite frankly, as Victor assured me - and was correct, the HP18 has significantly increased in quality (I wonder when it will hit a threshold...). I find the more subtle sweetness more appealing in fact than the more overt sweetness of the Ab18. Same with the Tal18 - that went through a disappointing, molding leave experience at the beginning and has now taken so much hold on me that I ordered some from the UK because I could not find it here - at least at a reasonable price or that could be shipped to WA (which is really unfortunate...).

One would not regret at least one bottle of Ab18 in their cabinet but if it came down to ordering HP18 or Ab18, I am sort tending to go with the former. I will be back in a month or so with any revisions on this.

My revisions would continue - but the bottle is empty... :-) However, I definitely lost some of the earlier

While what Jesus said - Babes shall speak forth wisdom - may be true in regards to recognition of heavenly matters, it does not seem to transfer to scotch. I would give Balvenie 21 Port Finished a head and shoulders above the Aberlour.... I will likely have this thread deleted as kind of a trial run - and pick up in a year or so after I have a few more bottles under my belt. However, I am making some good progress - just picked up 15 bottles from Neil Jamison at the Whiskey Shop in the UK - who did a GREAT job on pricing and shipping costs for me - it was a pleasure doing business with him to say the least - I focused on bottles which saved some $20 and more compared to US prices - though I note that not all UK offerings are less expensive than in the US so you have to do your homework.