Aberfeldy whisky

Aberfeldy

Wartime has always spelled trouble for the
Aberfeldy distillery. The distillery was closed
in 1917 because the government decided
that the stocks of grain should be saved to
provide food some time before the end of
World War I. Whisky production at the
Aberfeldy distillery resumed in 1919, but it
had to close its doors once again during
the second World War. Fortunately for us,
malt lovers, Aberfeldy prospered after that,
helped by the fact that it was conveniently
located near the Aberfeldy-Perth railway.

The distillery was rebuilt and refitted with four new stills in 1972/'73.
In 1998 John Dewar & Sons (a Bacardi subsidiary) bought Aberfeldy
from United Distillers (Diageo). At the same time Aultmore, Brackla and
Craigellachie switched owners, expanding Bacardi's portfolio. Aberfeldy
still plays a big role in today's 'Dewar's' and 'White Label' blends. Too
bad, because most malts I sampled performed quite well on their own.

Tommy Dewar, one of the founders and an enthusiastic promoter of the blend by the same name, was the third person in Britain ever to buy a car. He did so shortly after Thomas Lipton (the guy who supposedly invented tea) and HRH the Prince of Wales (who didn't invent anything at all, apparantly).

Most sources put Aberfeldy in the Midlands but according to some people it's actually an Eastern Highlands distillery. The water source of Aberfeldy, the Pitilie Burn, was also used by the appropriately named 'Pitilie' distillery that used to operate somewhere nearby between 1825 and 1867. Bottles from that previous distillery are hard to find these days ;-)

1) The brand name 'Aberfeldy' suggests that there used to be a Pictish settlement in this area.
The picts were the people that inhabited Scotland (then known as 'Pictavia of 'Pictland') before a tribe from Ireland known as the 'Scotti' invaded the area. Names with the prefixes 'Aber' (Aberlour, Aberfeldy), 'Lhan' (Lhanbryde), 'Pit' (Pitlochry) or 'Fin' (Finlaggan) indicate the existence of Pictish settlements in the area.

2) The Aberfeldy distillery is home to Dewar's World of Whisky - a 'brand centre' for the Dewar's whiskies.
A similar set-up can be found at the Glenturret distillery that houses the Famous Grouse Experience.

3) Sir Thomas Robert Dewar is quoted as saying 'Nothing deflates so fast as a punctured reputation'.

4) Aberfeldy is one of almost two dozen malt whisky distilleries that were founded during the 'whisky boom' of the
late 19th century and which have managed to survive until this day. The other survivors include Ardmore, Aultmore, Balvenie, Benriach, Benromach, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Craigellachie, Dalwhinnie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich, Glen Moray, Glenrothes, Glentauchers, Knockandu, Knockdhu, Longmorn, Tamdhu and Tomatin.

5) More trivia about Aberfeldy distillery will be added later...
 

Aberfeldy 12yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2009)
Nose: Gentle, light and accessible. Softly sweet like flower nectar. Honeysuckle? Veggier undercurrent.
Spices in the background. The complexity disappears after a few minutes, keeping it out of the 80's for me.
Taste: Slightly oily start, not quite as sweet as the nose. Malty. This almost feels like an overproof whisky.
Sweeter in the solid centre though, with the oil moving to the background. A trace of coffee? Fairly dry finish. 
Score: 79 points - pleasant but not terribly expressive in the nose. Too bad it doesn't have more staying power.

Aberfeldy 21yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2009)
Nose: Polished with subtle fruits (citrus) in the background. Hints of oil and something 'veggy'. Beer?
Pleasant enough, but this one earns most points on the palate. Faintest hint of sulphur?
Taste: Smooth start, powering up in the sweet, malty centre. Very drinkable, almost like a grain whisky.
Well, at least in the solid centre. This has a decent amount of tannins in the finish. Slightly gritty.
Score: 83 points - perhaps a slight drop-off since earlier batches that scored 84 points.

Aberfeldy 1989/2007 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice)
Nose: Nose: Light & grainy. Extremely subtle. Very few distinguishing elements. Simply not my cup of tea.
Taste: Quite soft and nondescript. Bitter centre. Spirity bite in the finish. Very little to get me excited...
Score: 70 points - But I should point out that almost all other maniacs liked this one better than I did.

Aberfeldy 12yo (40%, OB, Dewar's, bottled +/- 2001, 70cl)
Nose: Ah, that's interesting? Very spicy, very herbal. Playful prickle.
Then it moves into a sweet & sour direction, becoming fruitier. Japanese crackers?
Then more organic notes appear - leather? Some smoke after 10 minutes, but it drops off.
Some water revives it again, releasing much more smoke. Only for half a minute, though.
After that it seems dead for good. No, wait - it picks up again. A strange 'up & down' effect.
Taste: Harsh and rough at the start. Hint of salt liquorice. Orange lemonade in the finish?
Not as endearing as the nose. Although it has its moments, it's slightly disappointing.
Score: 78 points - this is a real nasal roller coaster! Unfortunately, the taste is just so-so.

Aberfeldy 25yo 1975/2001 (57.0%, Cadenhead's, Sherry, 228 Bts.) - a sample from Dave Russo from the US.
The nose was very polished, although it started a tad restrained. Seems like a straight shooter.
However, it opens up with pipe tobacco and much more complex aroma's over time. Fabulous!
The taste was big and fruity and quickly loads of liquorice emerged. Very, very nice.
Score: I went with 92 points and Davin even loved it 93 points worth. Quite brilliant; we both loved it.

Aberfeldy 9yo 1991/2000 (43%, Ultimate, Dist. 11/4/1991, Bottled 8/5/2000, Cask #2713)
This one didn't make an overwhelming first impression, as you can see from these tasting notes.
Nose: Very soft start - quite 'subtle'. Becomes bigger and more spicy after a minute.
Incense? Coffee? A little oily. Some citrus. Nevertheless, it remains relatively restrained.
Taste: Soft, smooth and warm at first. Rather sweet. Pink bubblegum? Extremely dry finish.
Score: 70 points - not a very impressive score, but it's nothing to be ashamed of either.

Aberfeldy 1978/1996 (59.3%, Scott's Selection, French market, 70cl)
I sampled it in a H2H session in August 2002 against the Aberfeldy 12yo I just described.
Nose: Wow! Powerful. Lots of fruit, lots of perspective. Fruit cake?
Slightly dusty. Complex with more sour/vegetable notes after time.
Great development over time, with organic notes growing stronger and stronger.
A little overwhelming at cask strength. Seems sweeter with five drops of water.
Strangely enough, some water seemed to dim the nose a little.
Taste: Soft start, followed by a big, fruity burn. Chewy. Groovy, baby!
Sweet when sampled by the drop. Overwhelming with bigger sips. Intriguing development
Fresher with water, but the sweetness remains dominant in the very long finish.
Score: 83 points - bloody decent stuff! It has some very entertaining sherry accents.
These sherry overtones complement the other elements rather than overwhelm them.

Aberfeldy 17yo 1978/1995 (57.9%, Cadenhead's, D08/78, B10/95, 5cl) - Serge sent this from France
was similar to the Scott's Selection, and in the end it ended up with the same recommendable score.
Nose: Smooth and sherried. Hint of peat after a while? Opens up very nicely indeed.
Cookies and toffee. It's like a cakewalk in a cookie bakery. Something faintly medicinal.
Taste: Smooth, sweet and easily drinkable at cask strength. Woody, fruity burn in the centre.
A playful hint of fruits hangs around for a long time. Coffee bitterness in the long, long finish.
Score: 83 points - It loses a few points in the woody finish, but it's still a recommendable malt.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Aberfeldy I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most malts I've sampled and scored - but finding notes on a specific expression could be tricky. You might want to use the search box at the top of this page for that. The mAlmanac now contains personal selections of the best and the worst single malts I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value.

But those are all just my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 

The Aberfeldy distillery that still stands today wasn't the first
distillery by that name. One Peter McIntosh and John McDonald
were involved with another 'Aberfeldy' distillery that supposedly
operated somewhere in Perthshire in the early 19th century.

The Aberfeldy distillery lies in the North of the Midlands in the
very heart of Scotland. Well, the 'geographical' heart anyway;
the Speyside area a little further north is considered to be the
real heartland of whisky country. Aberfeldy distillery was built
on the south bank of the Tay in 1896 by John Dewar & Sons.
It is a (relatively) recent distillery too - it started producing
Scotch malt whisky in 1898 - little more than a century ago.

2006 - By now I've tried quite a few recommendable and highly recommendable Aberfeldies, but I'm afraid that I have relatively little experience with recent bottlings. Most of the bottles that impressed me were independent bottlings; the 12yo and 25yo OB's that were released in the early noughties didn't actually impress me very much.
I've tried disappointing bottlings by 'Master of Malts' and in G&M's 'Connoisseurs Choice' series as well.

2009 - Until recently, Dewar's (a daughter company of Bacardi and the current owners of the Aberfeldy distillery) did not participate at all in our annual whisky competition; the Malt Maniacs Awards. I'm happy they decided to pick up the gauntlet in 2009, but it's still a little early to make grandiose claims about the overall quality of the Aberfeldy single malt whisky at this point. So, I would suggest that you take the tasting notes at the bottom of this page with a few grains of salt; many of those tasting notes are more than a decade old...