Aberfeldy – TBWC Batch 1 – NAS – 47%

Colour: Full gold.

Nose: Sweet, malty, slightly salty which tails off after a while revealing woody notes which seem fairly fresh, newly sawn oak. Slight vanilla and a hint of earth.

Palate: Sweeter than the nose suggests, it’s quite smooth for the abv, possibly suggesting some reasonable ages within? Gently spiced and fairly oily with a good mouthfeel (if only the official bottles could be non chill-filtered!). Soft fruits amongst vanilla fudge.

Finish: Something quite fresh on the finish, a reasonably long and warming hug with cask wood as the last back note which over takes the sweetness somewhat with a slight bitter edge.

Thoughts: This is good, and not too expensive. An additional cask of older and sweeter bourbon matured wouldn’t go amiss to further balance it and add further honey tones for which Aberfeldy is generally known. 88.

Available from Master Of Malt for £64.95
Thanks to them for the sample.