Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml) - Batch 08

We think Aberlour is at its best when cask-strength, and not necessarily out of sherry casks. This one's part of the special "Alba" series that differs from the classic A'bunadh by maturing exclusively in ex-bourbon barrels, giving it lighter, fruitier notes (apples, honey, vanilla) instead of the typical dried fruit and dark chocolate character. Batch #008 comes bottled non-chill filtered at 60.1% Alc./Vol.

Other reviews... [Batch 007 tasted] I've only ever tried Alba once, I think it was the first batch, and thought it was excellent (WF 86). Now I've already informally tried this new batch - with great food- and thought 'wow!' This is fully ex-bourbon oak, hence the name 'Alba'. Colour: white wine. Nose: it's also a good option to keep your distillate as clean and naked as possible when it's first-class. Terrific apples, gooseberries, green pears, kiwis, greengages, white cherries, green bananas… However, it would never move towards easy Haribo-like notes. They know how to stand. With water: viognier. I'm sorry I'm mentioning wine pretty often, but either I write 'viognier', or I'll need to list dozens of aromas, starting with white pineapple, guava… No, enough! Mouth (neat): superb, incredibly fruity, dead on target, with pears and grapefruits. Perfect with fruity desert, yes I speak from experience. With water: sure it's simple, even very simple, even very, very simple, but this immense fruitiness is irresistible. Finish: medium, ueber-fruity, with even a little varnish. Comments: a fruit bomb. And who cares if it was made in a lab (which it was not, of course). In truth this is very Aberlour, many ueber-fruity malts would be geared toward tropical/exotic fruits (do you really need names?) but in my book, only two of them are fully 'western-orchardy'. Both belong to Pernod, they are Longmorn and… Aberlour. 87 points - whiskyfun.com