Aberlour A'bunadh

With my title, I feel like Serge from Whisky Fun. Indeed, I did a similar experience that fits its style. I tasted at the same time with a friend three different batches of A'bunadh (batch 27, 29 and 30). The former had 4-5 drams already out of the bottle, while the two latters where unopened before the tasting. This experiment was very interesting ans since they are all Cask Strength nearing 60%, you need a designated driver.

Nose: the B27 was more opened since it was opened a few months before and you could smell it. It was more complex with toffee in front and oak notes and some cherries in the background. The B29 has a strange nose, like an old dirty storehouse. B30 has a very pleasant nose with a lot of cherries. On the nose they seem all different, but with the same roots, but when you smell one blindly, we could not tell which one it was.

Mouth: B27 respects its nose, toffee, cherries, dryness and some bitterness. B29 was an explosion of pepper and nuts, with some fruity notes. It was very surprising after such an odd nose. It has a richer body than the two others. B30 was in the middle of both... some peppery notes, but not as powerful as the B29 and it has some toffee and cherry too.

Finale: Longest was the B29, followed by B27 and B30. B29 looks like a rock star to me once it will settle a bit in a opened bottle, I think it will be very enjoyable.

Conclusion. Very nice experiment to do. I encourage everybody to do this. It is interesting to see how different those batches are when compared to each other at the same time, but they are also similar enough to being mixed up when blind-tasting one later.

In general, the A'bunadh is very good sherry monster at cask strength that shows a good complexity and powerful notes. Every one should have at least one batch in their cabinet. Just try to have a different batch than your friends !