Aberlour Aberlour 12 Years Old Double Cask Matured NV 750ml

Aged in oak and former Sherry casks, this enticing Scotch has a ripe red-apple scent and rich salted caramel and butterscotch on the palate. It’s powerful, with a thick, buttery feel and a long finish of lip-smacking spice cake and sea brine notes.

Fruitier, sweeter, and more straightforward than the new 16 year old. Ripe tangerine, orchard fruit, and caramel apples, all on a bed of nutty toffee. Underlying notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, with a dusting of dark chocolate. After the sweetness fades away, there’s lingering spice and oak resin on the finish. A good alternative to Macallan 12 year old or Glenfarclas 12 year old.

Somehow this 12 year old — a mix of sherry and American oak—is overlooked by malt lovers heading straight to the mental world of a’Bunadh. This is Aberlour at a crucial point in its growth: you’ve lost the maltiness of the 10 year old, but there’s none of the heavy toffee and licorice of a’Bunadh or older expressions. Here it’s sweet fruits in charge: red apple, black currant, plum. The sherry has added depth, the American oak honey. Length and balance.

Bright orange/copper color; superb clarity. Smells yummily (a high technical term, I know) of roasted chestnuts, nectarines, apricots, and banana in the first nosing go-round; seven more minutes of air contact brings out traces of jasmine, unbaked bread dough and yeast, and light honey. Palate entry is assertive, yet affable and caramel sweet; midpalate is more integrated - and interesting - as layers of sweet grain and toffee intermingle with dried fruits (prunes), oaky spice, and marzipan. Concludes sweet, oaky, and a touch sherries. Works for me as a wonderfully plump and straightforward all-around Speyside pleaser that could appeal to a wide range of whisky drinkers, from neophytes to veterans. Highly Recommended.