Whisky Review: Aberfeldy 12 Year

Aberfeldy was founded by the eponymous John Dewar during the first serious whisky boom at the end of the 19th-century. It remained a member of the DLC - proto-Diageo - conglomerate until it was divested in 1998 and sold back to Dewars, now a part of the Bacardi conglomerate. Since then it has been the home of the "Dewar's World of Whisky".

This whisky was aged primarily in ex-bourbon casks, then bottled at 40% with coloring and chill-filtration.

Aberfeldy 12 Year

Nose: good balance - caramel, fresh malt, vanilla, a touch of sherry, ripe berries, apples/pears, gently floral, peat/wood smoke/cinnamon in the background. After adding a few drops of water it becomes comparatively flat, but reveals some citrus peel and pineapple.

Taste: sweet malt and caramel up front with a thread of bitterness that weaves across the palate, apple/pear in the background around the middle, becomes thicker near the back with mild oak. After dilution it becomes less sweet and reveals some sherry around the middle plus more oak with a more tannic character, giving it a touch of charred wood or wood smoke, near the back.

Finish: bittersweet - caramel, burnt sugar, fresh malt, a touch of oak and sherry

I was pleasantly surprised by this whisky. For being bottled at 40% the aromas have more density that you would expect and present a nicely balanced character. The palate is comparatively a bit of a letdown as it lacks complexity, but it is also without significant flaws. With that said, it doesn't handle water well and loses much of what made it pleasant at full strength. While this is nothing that will wow a seasoned malt drinker, it seems like a solid step up from basic blends and would probably be my preference when faced with only the standards Glens as an alternative. With that said, there are other entry-level malts from Old Pulteney, AnCnoc, Glenmorangie, and Glenfarclas that I would recommend over this for the money.