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Aberlour Distillery Tour 6/28/2013

9/6/2013

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Aberlour Distillery tour.     6/28/2013

            Our tour guide was James Fleming. He was very knowledgeable and also a Monty Python fan. He appreciated Todd bringing his own coconuts to Doune Castle.

            At the beginning of the tour we tasted a 12 year.

*Aberlour 12 year    43% ABV   Aged in bourbon (80%) and finished in sherry (20%)

            -smelled sweet cough syrup and wood

            -tasted sweet on the front of my tongue

            -trailed oak

            -with water became lighter sweet with a touch of pepper

            One of the cool things about this tour was the being able to smell the Foreshots, Hearts, Feints and a control sample. Normally these are just talked about and maybe even shown in a bottle. We got to stick our noses in it.

            *Foreshots   90% ABV  Undrinkable!

            It is what comes out between distillings to clean out the pipes. There is a lot of copper in it. It smelled like cleaning fluid and burned our eyes and sinuses. Adding water clouded it up and made it smell like old brake fluid.

            *Hearts  64%-74% ABV

            It smelled floral sweet with a tinge of sour. Adding water made it smell surprisingly sweeter with no sourness .

            *Feints  55% ABV

            It smelled like a floral, waxy cleaning fluid. I smelled decaying flowers as well. Adding water made it smell like week old vase water, mildewy.

            *Control     69.8% ABV

            It smelled of wood with slightly sour floral scent. Water changed the smell to wood with a lemon, citrusy scent.

            We did get to taste some expressions after ruining our sense of smell with rotten flowers and cleaning fluid. If I remember correctly we also had some chocolates that were supposed to complement each dram. I tasted first and ate the chocolates later.

#1 New Spirit   Control Sample       (For some reason I have noted 6 year. Doesn’t make sense.)

            -smelled faintly sour floral with wood

            -tasted a touch of dry oatmeal with a tinge of flour

            -with water smelled sour floral again

            -tasted peppery wood and trailed quickly

#2 Aberlour 18 year  43% ABV      (80% Olorosso Sherry/20% Bourbon)

            -smelled sherry/wine with a sweetness

            -tasted bitter like a chardonnay at first and trailed sweeter

            -left an oak taste

            -with water smelled floral and woody

            -tasted sweet wood, much lighter flavor

            -trailed quickly

#3 Aberlour Cask Strength  16 year  54.4% ABV     (Mostly bourbon/sherry)

            -smelled slightly sour bourbon, no floral

            -tasted sweet chalky, peppery in the middle and trailed bourbon

            -with water smelled slightly floral/wine scent (no bourbon)

            -tasted bourbon all the way through

            -trailed peppery

#4 Aberlour Cask Strength Single Cask  16 year  54.4% ABV   (Mostly sherry/bourbon)

            -smelled sour wood

            -tasted peppery at first then sweet wood into a sherry flavor

            -with water smelled sour wood

            -tasted sweet peppery wood that moved into a sherry and oak


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Our tour guide.
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The non-drinkables.
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Nosing, tasting. What are these crazy Americans doing?
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Our tour of Warehouse No. 1, which is slated to be torn down.
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    JM is a long standing member of the Iron Mountain Whiskey Club. 

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