whisky review 356 - Aberlour A'bunadh Batch 42 re-reviewed 2013
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- Опубліковано 20 кві 2013
- . . . a visit (after four years) to WhiskyReview 3 with an assessment of how this malt has faired from Batch 18 to Batch 42.
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Thank you, Ralfy, love the time you spend educating us all. I really like the Teacher's and White Label Dewars and an Irish called Tullamore Dew (this being under the "too much of a good thing")!
Hey Ralfy.! Just picked up a bottle of batch 42 due to your numerous videos. Fantastic stuff. Thanks a bunch dude.!!
Hi Ralfy,
Great review! Thanks again for doing all this. At this point I can thank you for literally DAYS of free entertainment, most of which is educational as well. I once despaired of ever understanding whisky, but your videos made it clear even I could learn-and that learning could be fun.
The re-reviews are most welcome and I'm glad you've let each vlog topic (or series around a topic) take it's own length organically. The form will naturally follow, stylistically and timewise as well. Great touchs throughout the bits in the backgrounds. I have always found value in and rewarded by a second if not a third view of each vlog. Much wisdom, much eccentricism, and a good laugh by one and all -- humor can take the edge off the truth, much as a drop of water opens up a dram.
Great story and history lesson into yours and whiskeys past. I thoroughly enjoyed while sipping on some Aberlour A'bunadh batch #63 one of my favorites
Appreciate all your reviews... you're the reason I've tried more scotches. Personally love this one. So good! thanks for the re-review!
Hi Ralfy,
A'bunadh is my go to whisky--- I even convinced the local pub to carry a bottle for me. I buy it several bottles a time out of state where it is less expensive. Unfortunately, I found myself saddled with three bottles of dismal batch 40.
I found a way to iron out the rough edges. I mix 1:1 with Glenrothes 40%, then add slight sugar to cover up flaws. This brings the alcohol concentration down to 50%, and from there it takes a little water. Rich, smooth, and no asphalt taste.
You have some of the most interesting stories! Always enjoy them.
Bought this (well Abundah - different batch number I'm sure) last year for my mates 30th. I actually looked up reviews on this whisky before I bought it, and came across your Vlogs. I'm really glad you gave this single malt another review and a bit more time - it's the very reason I'm a subscriber! Thanks again Ralfy :-)
Thank you for that story at the end ralfy . These videos are gem to be saved . We all know ralfy is a gem we need to protect .
I've been drinking this now for 3 years, so from about batch 35... I've bought bottles of other cask strength whisky at double and triple the price (£120!... what I now classify as tourist's whisky) Aberlour A'Bunadh is a benchmark dram for serious whisky drinkers. This punches well above it's weight across all categories, start your session with a nice Springbank 15yo and finish with the Aberlour... you won't need to look any further...Ralfy thanks for all your good work, top man
I was drinking Batch No. 23 when I first came across that first whisky review back in '09' - so glad I subscribed right then and there. Cheers Ralf, love to see the re-reviews!
Love the direction your taking us in Ralfy. good, worse and better consistencies are as key as their current standards dictate. Quite integral on many levels mate. good stuff.
Peace
Nice one Ralfy. Re-Revs are most certainly a must these days with the variation in cask quality, budget cuts as well as personnel changes! As you know Lagu16 as well as HP18 need attention as well. These high and mighty costly malts leave a lot to be desired. I think today this is a great way to get the attention of the distilleries that rest on their laurels with their scores/reviews and "best of's" from yesteryear. Thanks mate.
cheers Ralfy.
I just witnessed the last poor of my first Aberlour. There will be a second! Wonderful pick all because of this review! Thanks Ralfy. Batch 44, It was great.
Haha, I love the Dalek and Cyberman models in the background. Seems we got a Dr. Who fan over here.
Thanks for all the reviews. I love whisky .I love sitting down.to enjoy a good film.with a warming glass of whisky
bravo Ralfy!
this mindset has been in the offing for some time. this goes to show that all of us maltmates are an integral part of todays whiskey equation. Things Will Change my friend and that Im afraid is the only constant.
Peace
Always good to log on and see a Ralfy vid
Coincidentally I opened the batch 42 only last week. Will view your review tonight whilst enjoying the batch 42 at the same time (and be careful not to finish the glass in the same amount of time as the video ends!) :-)
I'm glad you gave this malt a longer review, Ralfy. It's an absolute must in the climb up the malt ladder. Cough syrup from heaven INDEED! Powerful though so be warned when trying neat for the first time.
It is also worth mentioning that changes in the distillery, whether in personnel, the stills, ownership or climatic changes, will have an effect upon the whisky produced. I find the Aberlour a very agreeable whisky especially for those new to whisky.
I have been enjoying a bottle of batch 39. It has been loads of fun in tasting flights for new scotch drinkers. The potency of the bottling and the sherry is quite the change-of-pace.
I also bought a bottle of batch 42 in 2012 from Waitrose. I'm more of a peat head and it was the most expensive whisky I'd ever bought so the bottle didn't get hammered. In fact, I just finished it last week! Even after 11 years it still tasted great. It's now time to open the bottle of Aberlour Casg Annamh I bought in May 2021 to replace it. I don't expect it to be of the same calibre but it only cost me £28.14 from Amazon at the time.
Thanks ralfy.. gonna go for the #44 soon, great whiskies..
Hi Ralfy - really enjoy your vlogs and particularly liked your original 2004 tasting note for the A'bunadh, it's just about where I'm up to right now! I'm currently enjoying a Batch 44 but the first time I tried it my note was "Liquorice smack round the head!" sadly my notes haven't moved on too much yet but I'm working on it :) Cheers John
They are absolutely different. A'bunadh is a sherry monster and Nadurra is more floral just like most Glenmorangies. If you're looking for a sherry whiskey you should choose between Aberlour A'bunadh, Glenfarclas 105 and Glendronach 15 Revival.
Interesting comparing prices around the world. The Aberlour a'bunadh is £73 ($NZ132) in New Zealand. I guess that taxes and additional freight and handling account for difference. In compensation I managed to pick up a bottle of Bruichladdich's Port Charlotte, PC6 last year for £33 (NZ $59.99), in a sale at local liquor outlet. Keep up the good work Ralfy - come and see us in NZ at some stage.
Hi Ralfy, do you plan to review Glenfarclas 105? IMHO, it's fantastic, I am curious on how you think it compares to A'bunadh.
Ralf what do you actually mean by engineered casks as opposed to default casks?
In the last few years (helped in no small part by your reviews!), I've gotten into the habit of trying many different whiskies, instead of re-buying the same old stand-bys. So, that being said, Aberlour A'bunadh is one of the few that I enjoyed so much, I went back and bought a follow up bottle.
I also compared it with the Aberlour 16 and I like the A'bunadh much better. I find, with time and water, the mouthfeel gets super creamy. The 16 was good, but just seemed "thin" in comparison.
Opened Aberlour A'bunadh batch 45 last week. Previously I've tried 39, 41 and 42. While I've loved them all, I've a particular fondness for batch 45.
Ralfy, what would you say are the two or three whiskies that currently most successfully combine peat and sherry?
I have noticed some variation in quality of Talisker 10, Lagavulin 16 and Distiller's edition and Caol Ila 12. Any change that you could take another look at those malts?
On the subject of sherried drams ralfy have you tried either of the two sensibly priced Karuizawa's 'sprit of Assam'?
Thank you very much for the answer. Can't wait to try!
ralfy, just got myself a bottle of batch 45, loving it, it's absolutely beautiful, albeit quite a knockout, pretty strong! Still looking to find the right amount of water to go with it.
Hello Ralfy,
Thank you for a great review - as usually!
I have a question.
Out of the two - Glendronach 15yo Revival and this Aberlour A'bunadh - which one would you recommend?
You seemed to enjoy both of them quite a lot:-) however the Aberlour is a bit more expensive. Do they even compare?
Thank you once again for great videos!
Okay thanks for clearing that up. If I may ask one more question. To your experience, hypothetically, how likely is it that when you drink a whisky today and that exact same whisky 9 years from now, that your tasting notes would be the same? Not trying to make a point or anything, just trying to learn from a whisky connoisseur how that proces works. Can your palette change over time so that you would taste the same thing differently, or stuff like that? Thanks Ralfy. Peace.
Hi Ralfy! Any word on Batch #39? Thank you very much for the advanced class! Cheers!!
Have you done a video about how you keep and archive your tasting notes? Thanks :)
Ralfy no longer lives in Scotland, but the Isle of Man. It's not always cold in Scotland. Some west coast islands such have Jura even have plam trees as a result of the Gulf Stream keeping the climate mild.
@Ralfy, I had a question for you. My uncle recently gave me a 1.75 L bottle of a blended whisky I have never heard of. It is called, "McGregor's Perfection Blended Scotch Whisky." It was imported into the US by Federal Distillers Products Co. of Lewinston, Maine. It has a UPC code and a plastic screw top, which makes me think it is post 1970s. My uncle told me that he thought it was from the 1980s or 1990s. Googling on the internet, I can only find a few sellers of it with the same UPC.
Hey Ralfy, I'm a beginner malt maniac and I'm starting out on a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. I've noticed in tonight's tasting that if I leave the whisky in the glass for more than half an hour or so, it becomes really spicy and burns when you swallow it. What causes this to happen?
Hey ralfy, I'm looking into purchasing aberlour 12 yo sherry cask. I was wondering of there's a difference between aberlour a'bunha or are they the same?
Malt mention: mellow minded malt mates
The Abunadh is far superior!
Hello Ralfy!
I have learned a lot by watching you vlogs, especially your recent Advanced Master Class. What advice would you give to someone considering the purchase of a nosing kit for the sake of training ones sense of smell? Have you had any experience with creating your own aroma standards?
Thanks!
PS: How about Malt Marksmen for a malt mention?
Ralfy have you tried batch 45? I only have four whiskies and I will have these for a while. Got a little bored so I thought I would start experimenting with blending. Blending it with ardbeg corryvreckan. Turning out quite nice actually.
I see a bottle of Odell IPA in the background :). That is one heck of an IPA...my all time fav
I've had batches 36,37,38,39 while studying in Aberdeen. A'bunadh is definitely my favourite. I should ask you to review Glendronach 16 PX that they stock only in Aberdeen whisky shop. If Nick still got them.
Ralfy what is your opinion on Macallan 25? Whiskybase gives it around 92 points average and I have never tried a high end Macallan and thought it might be a good idea for my whisky club. Your opinion and thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks
would you buy it for your collection or not worth the price? Sorry about my annoying collection question but it does help my decision.
Ralfy, are you planning on re-reviewing some of your other whiskeys from years ago? if so Ardbeg 10 please?
love your reviews Ralfy. so glad to see another Aberlour review. will you be at Springbank Open Day this year?
Hey Ralfy, is the A'bunadh a single cask malt? I thought that I saw something small on the label suggest so..
. . . small batch of barrels, not a single cask, that's Balvenie.
Hi Ralfy, have you ever tried (or are planning to) Slyrs Bavarian Single Malt?
Would be interested in you opinion on that one.
keep it up!
Hey Ralfy - any plans on re-reviewing the Talisker 10 yr?
You have to get to know your taste (memory), its reliability, what disturbs it, etc. Experience and conscious practice help a lot. I find it important to taste not only once/on one day, in order to eliminate exceptions. Also, when your taste changes, you might still recall an older taste and just like it less/more now. Good idea: keep some of the old stuff in small bottles as points of reference. :-)
Hello Ralfy and fellow malt mates. I've read that A'bunadh is a mix of 5 - 25 year old single malts but does anyone know roughly how much of each year goes in to it's production. I'm sure this varies somewhat from batch to batch but a rough outline would be really interesting. Just out of curiosity really, it's a fantastic dram regardless. Thanks all and happy malting!
+secondclassmale Should add, it's only £35 in Waitrose at the moment, albeit up to batch number 53 now.
Hi Ralfy,
I just wanted to direct your attention to the "single cask" on the aberlour bottle.
In a german Masterclass, somebody asked the aberlour spokesperson how there could be batches of Aberlour abunadh if it was single barrel.
They then told them that with Abunadh, they search for a number of barrels with the same alcohol content, which are then all bottled individually.
So all this talking about batch XX is good/bad seems pointless since its unknow which barrel of batch xx is in my bottle
Hi Ralfy, as a whisly drinker what cocktails are you into?
I loved Abunadh when I first got a bottle. It was a wonderful price, $63. Unfortunately, the price here in Michigan has blown up to over $80. At that price I can afford to try some other things.
I see that Odell IPA in the background! I'm a Colorado native so that's really cool. (: If you can get your hands on it you should REALLY try their Myrcenary Douple IPA!
Great Review, have you ever considered doing blind Whisky Rastings? With wine it is quite common that a wine judge will fast and rate a large sampling of wines without knowing much if anything about them, I don't see that much with whisky though.
cheecky uigedail re-review on the horizion?
oh, got it at waitrose too, for £33, down from £41, bargain! they had a nice selection of single malts too, brilliant
Glenfiddich 15 revisit? Or maybe the 15 year Distillery Edition? Or did they finally put out a decent 18 year old?
I have a tasting bottle of batch No. 32....it's delicious!! Love the sweet-syrupiness of it! Ralfy...what has been the sweetest tasting whisky you've ever tried?
@Ralfy (cont) any information would be welcomed. I appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge with others! Thank you!
Looks like you have quite the taste in beer in the back as well, I see Kernel back there which has a great reputation. Maybe you should do a few reviews of beer just because you can!
Early birdd Ralfy!... not had me roast beef lunch yet!!
Bought a batch 45 @ 60.2% on sale at my favorite shop in Minnesota. Regularly: $55, sale price: $46.75! Now, I have to wait a year for the next sale.
Great dram this, a must try.
A'bunadh is a consistently interesting whisky. Along with Uigeadail it's of those modern classics that really hammers home the point that age aint everything!
It's so ridiculous, as you mentioned, in Sweden, we have heavy taxation on alcohol. A bottle of Aberlour A'bunadh costs around £60 here. I think they should lower it and abolish the governments monopoly on hard liquor. As you stated, we have no option but to pay the price they put on it. A market that was free and contained a bit of competition would be good for the customers. Hopefully, that will come true in the years to come.
Oxidization! The whisky reacts with oxygen in the air over time. Some whiskys take very well to this and actually improve when out in the air, others don't. I've never tried this with Black Label before, but it could just be that BL doesn't react to air very well.
I agree with the being careful with 90% alcohol bit because I woke up in a trolley once.
Apparently was stolen from a locked glass case that is in the open retail portion of the store. A 50 year old Glenfidddich the press reports are saying. They have a very clear image of the alleged culprit on the security cameras.
Hey Ralphy when did you first get into Whisky?
Hey hey, this is not one bottle of Orval behind you?
Batch 39 was a bust. Something was off. Sulfur notes. Water helped a bit but I was extremely disappointed with that batch. Previously purchased batch 34 with none of these issues. Glad to hear batch 42 is better.
Hey Ralf,
I have read so many reviews about how good batch 20 & 22 were,and that most of the batches these days have that sulphur smell.I have noticed it in some batches,how about you,do you notice it at times???.You mentioned about the cost of spirits in Canada & Sweden,,,here in Vancouver BC,the price for Aberlour is 64 pounds or $100 Can.Cheers mate and enjoy the rest of your evening.
Actually, Aberlour A'bunadh is up to at least batch number 45, because that's the batch number I have on the bottle I bought last week. Bottled at 60.2%, Cheers!
Any chance you could do a review on Batch 45 and / or Batch 39?
Batch 45 is very nice, this is well chronicled on many reliable sites / sources. I have five bottles in reserve.
5?!? Haha! Nice! I picked up 3 myself...
+Malty Mucker I absolutely love this stuff im a huge peat lover but this is probably my favourite whisky of the non peated....I currently have 2 bottles a 49 and 50 batch in a small 2 leter American oak barrel...gonna try it Christmas eve :)
Is about £60 in Sweden at the moment... after moving here 3 years ago I thought we were getting ripped off, and in some degree we are - plus the state monopoly can be frustrating - but after looking online at prices currently back in Australia, I'm feeling ok about what I pay here now... Australia must have some of the most expensive alcohol prices/taxes in the world. At least when I travel somewhere on holiday now, almost anywhere else outside of Scandinavia seems cheaper ;)
Love the stories
Heh, they stopped selling the A'bunadh in Norway after they found out that the strength differs from batch to batch. Anything above 60% is illegal here, so they stopped selling it all together. A shame.
ralfy, i see a bottle Orval trappist ale up on your shelf. how bout some beer/ale reviews ? Orval is a personal favorite
There's a new expression out - 12 years old non-chill filtered. I don't even see it on their website. Have you tried it?
Batch 40 a dud? This news compelled me to refer to my whisky inventory file and see what my Aberlour A'bunadh bottles were. One's a batch 34 and the other is a 35. Maybe I should have bought more of those. Hmmm. What are the best batches that are on the shelves currently? Maybe we need a review of each batch?
ur tasteing notes remind of my encounter the double cask 12 year old im siping rite now what is ur opinion on the 12 yr Ralfy i find it smashing
Aberlour A'bunadh or The Glenlivet Nadurra ?
Not fooling around, hits hard and fast. If you take too much in a swallow you might find it hard to breathe. That being said, WONDERFUL. Batch 44. Also loving Dalwhinnie 15 and Lagavulin 16.
Is LGVN DE better than 16?
I still have a bottle of #16 in my whisky cabinet!
Ralfy, I laughed so hard when hearing your malt mention. Please look up 'merkin' in the dictionary (if that's what I heard)
Quick question: I notice you have a jacket on in almost every video. Here's the question, and its probably a stupid one. Is it always cold in Scotland? Or do you just wear the jacket as part of the Ralfy "brand" so to speak? Thanks. Great review as always and thank you for bringing me and many others into the wonderful world of whisky. Cheers!
Ralfy, I wonder how (or if) you can tell the difference between a change in the whisky, and a change in yourself. Tasting is quite subjective; you can't use objective measurements to compare different whiskies. So when you re-review a whisky after four years, how do you know wether the whisky has changed, or your own taste has changed?
I paid about $100 for this whiskey in Canada... Still worth it, but stuff like Laphroaig quarter cask seems to be better value over here.
I'm wondering about the process you use when rereviewing whisky. Do you taste the old version and the new version at the same time, or do you compare old tasting notes with new tastings notes? Because if you do the latter, I tend to wonder whether or not differences in taste are the result of factors that lie within yourself, instead of within the whisky. It's hard to tell, isn't it? You're basically assuming your skills and palette have been constant for 9 years. Not sure if that is realistic.
Also just picked up batch 45 at Waitrose for £33.50.
What is the most expensive alcoholic beverage you've tried?
Pappy 20. It was $125 for a 2 oz dram. Absolutely delicious, and the only time I’ve had it. Luckily somebody else was buying!