Review #39: Aberlour 12

Last week we went to a lecture and vertical tasting of Aberlour led by Brand Ambassador Callum O’Donnell. After climbing a few flights of stairs in a non-descript office building in the heart of the financial district, we reached a Yoga studio that had been re-purposed (for the night) into a whisky tasting room with a few chairs scattered around. The group gathered were a few other seasoned Scotch whisky drinkers (members of the San Francisco Scotch Club). To give an idea, most had gone to Scotland and at the beginning of the tasting, Callum asked us what our favorite distilleries were, to which “Port Ellen” was called out.

Quick overview of our scoring system

Additional Information

• ABV: 40%
• Age: 12 years
• Chill filtered
• Aberlour’s most popular whisky, matured in both traditional ex-bourbon oak and sherry casks. Aberlour doesn’t disclose the ratios between bourbon and sherry though – but as the age statement increases, so does the sherry proportion.

About Aberlour

• Located in the heart of the Spey, Aberlour is at the confluence of the Lour and Spey rivers.
• Aberlour has a relatively small production of 3.5 million liters of spirit from their four stills.
• Aberlour is the best selling whisky in France, which is actually the largest single malt market in the world by volume… Who knew?
• We visited the distillery last fall (read about our trip here)