There is whisky you drink. And then there is whisky that drinks you. Batch 46 is deep red, dense and insistent, a Speyside sherry bomb drawn straight from the cask with no dilution and no filter. It does not ask permission.
Please note: Discontinued 2013 version with the yellow banderole.
The Expert's Description
Aberlour a'bunadh Batch 46 is a Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky matured exclusively in 1st fill Spanish Oloroso Sherry Butts and bottled at 60.4% cask strength. It is non-chill filtered and carries no age statement, as each batch is assembled by taste rather than by calendar.
A'bunadh means the original in Gaelic, and the name points to a specific story. During building work at the distillery an old bottle was found hidden beneath the floorboards, wrapped in a nineteenth century newspaper. The contents were analysed and the style recreated: rich, sherry matured, powerful and free of modern processing. That principle has driven the series ever since, batch after batch.
Aberlour sits in the village of the same name at the foot of Ben Rinnes, where the Lour Burn joins the River Spey. Using nothing but first fill Oloroso casks is what gives Batch 46 its colour, its weight and that intense fruit character.
Tasting Notes
Nose
Dark fruits leap out first: plums, black cherries and overripe raisins. Beneath them sit orange, gingerbread and a vinous sweetness from the sherry oak. With a little water it opens up to show vanilla, malt and a suggestion of overripe banana. It is lively but never scrappy.
Palate
Intense and full from the first second. Bittersweet dark chocolate meets dried fruits, pepper and a warm oak tannin. Add a drop of water and it turns creamy, rounding towards caramel, cherry and cinnamon. Something shifts, the hard edge goes and leaves something far more welcoming.
Finish
Medium to long with bittersweet notes of dark chocolate, pepper and wood. A subtle nuttiness creeps in at the end. Warm and rounded.
Specifications
Name: Aberlour a'bunadh Batch 46 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 60.4%
Distillery: Aberlour
Region/Country: Speyside, Scotland
Type: Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 60.4%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: 1st fill Spanish Oloroso Sherry Butts
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Bottled: 2013
Edition: Batch 46
EAN no.: 5010739261523
Flavour Profile
Sherry Matured · Fruity · Spiced · Oaky · Creamy · Dark Chocolate
Investment Potential
Medium. Batch 46 is discontinued, and the early batches in the series grow harder to find as they get drunk. The 2013 banderole makes the bottle easy to date, and it is precisely the identifiable older batches that collectors go after.
Did You Know?
Every batch of a'bunadh is a fresh assembly, so the strength varies from release to release, typically between just under 59 and a little over 61 per cent. That also means two batches can taste noticeably different even though the recipe and cask type are identical. It is one of the few series where whisky people collect batch numbers rather than vintages.
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