ABERFELDY - 20 ans - Small Batch - Exceptional Cask Series - 43%
Founded in 1896 by John Dewar & Sons, nearby the town of the same name in the Eastern Highlands; Aberfeldy sits on the south bank of the river Tay and the distillery takes its water from the Pitilie Burn. Often overlooked, Aberfeldy sells a mere 6,000 cases a year, even since being bought up by Bacardi in 1998, a century after production first began at the distillery. However, Bacardi has been, of late, auspiciously promoting the distillery and drawing consumer attention to Dewar’s White Label, widely recognised in the US as a premium blended Scotch whisky; White Label's chief ingredient being Aberfeldy.
In 2008, Dewar launched the Whisky Challenge, a campaign conceived to increase brand recognition of White Label. The Whisky Challenge was based at various airports and involved a blind taste test, whereby travellers could compare it with other premium Scottish blends. Of late, annual production capacity has been increased to 3.5 million litres!
The portfolio of Aberfeldy consisted of just three expressions for many years, including a 12 year old, a 21 year old and a rare 25 year old. However, Aberfeldy is now releasing some new Single Malts as part of the permanent range.
The Exceptional Cask Series is the moniker Aberfeldy uses for their single cask or small batch releases, curated by their master blender and malt master, Stephanie Macleod. This Aberfeldy 20 Years Old however, is a limited edition of 3,600 bottles.
It was distilled on April 27th in 1998, and then filled into bourbon casks 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 18 and 120. The liquid stayed inside those casks until the first month of 2014. That’s when the whisky was transferred in to first-fill sherry casks. Finally, more than 5 years later, the whisky was bottled on March 25th of 2019.
