ralfy review 638 - Aberlour 12yo @ 40%vol
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 เม.ย. 2017
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This video represents a personal opinion and perspective only.
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1:47 So true, liquors are hellishly expensive in Canada. Moreover, online stores like The Whisky Exchange don't ship to Canada because of regulations.
11:02 Ralfy gives us the finger!
I just have tried this Aberlour 12 YO, bottled in January 2020 and there is no roughness. They must have cleaned up their act already. A very pleasant dram indeed.
Exactly
Saw a bottle in Tesco's a few weeks back for £26 the 10 year old was actually priced at a couple of pounds more, thanks for the review Ralfy.
Ralfy, your set or house, or wherever it is you film, is so cool looking in your videos. I love it and your content! Thanks for the vids!
Been doing this for awhile, adding a few drops of independent bottling to standard label. They have to be compatible. Adds complexity and stretches your hard-earned farthings out. Thanks, Mate!
Just what I needed to hear. Thanks for the great explanation of that great advice. Cheers
I always enjoy your reviews. I do try the whiskey that you recommend, and it has always been a good experience. Thank You!
Hi Ralfy! I bought this one yesterday and i like it. A bit "ordinary" but very good quality for the money.
The choice was between this one and a NAS Abunadh. The 12 yo was half the price and has an age statement so it was a easy choice.
Ahh! I wish that one were readily available here in Seoul. Diageo plies their wares up the yin yang at good prices but Pernod Ricard only focus on their blends here. Ah well. This'll be fun to watch. Cheers Ralfy,
Mark
Ralfy you have to review the younger Aberlour Casg Annamh! I think you are right about that the younger Aberlour are better. Complex, fresh with long finish.
Hey Ralfy, thanks for another great review... but a point of information: I was at the Buffalo Trace Distillery last summer and we asked about on site bottlings. I'll let any of our malt mates from Kentucky weigh in to correct me, but we were told that distilleries in Kentucky are not allowed to sell their own whiskey *directly* to the public -- this is a clever bit of regulation designed to make sure that the distilleries don't put local liquor stores out of business. So, the bottles available for sale, even at the distilleries, are purchased by the distilleries back from the local liquor stores. So we were told. (And we did ask, because they were dumping barrels that day and most of us on the tour asked (okay, begged) to be allowed to lay under the barrels while they were being emptied. :^))
Mark Peterson Same laws in Pa.
I bought the Aberlour 14 after trying the 12. It's a little smoother than the 12 and a little more 'drinkable' (not that I 'drink' it, as such, i'm definitely a sipper). I always like to compare what you've picked out with what I notice, because it helps me to determine what I'm getting (not influence, but guidance), I'm still a beginner, so I'm still building my smell and taste palate database. So It would be great to see you review the 14 at some point.
Ah Ralfy I had this one a few weeks back. For me it was more like an 86. I enjoyed it.
Just picked this up for myself before watching the review. I also picked out the floral and spice as my top notes.
It's a pretty good idea to mix malts. I do that very often with say like a talisker 10. A few drops of the 18 completely changes it for the better.
Sipping the new bowmore Tempest. It's good. And it's all natural :)
good job Ralfy, that was very interesting
This was my first single malt. It got me into malts, so can't be that bad!
me too!
Single malt scotch is very expensive here in Ontario, Canada. Aberlour 12yo Double Cask Matured is great value for the money. It sells for about $65 here, but it punches well above its weight class (or price point). Love your reviews.
Just bought it, prices are crazy in Ontario, this is more reasonable. Looking forward to it.
I haven't tried this one but A'Bunadh is one of my favourites.
Here's a recommendation:
Take one measure of Aberlour 12, add it to a measure of Aberlour A'Bunadh to make Aberlour A'Brucie.
I love the glendronach 12 years, so i need to try me a Aberlour.
I noticed on several occasions that adding water ads a harness to the first sip. I then asked my local whisky pusher about it. He told me that the water draws up some oils to the surface. And that why the first sip after water can sometimes taste harsh.
So for this whisky I don't use water. I feel it taste better without and are more smooth.
But holly Molly the 18 is just on another level. But for a cheap 12 year. It's pretty good value. Even here in Denmark. It's often on sale here for around 20£
so easy and quick to drink. I liked this whisky. It is not my favorite, nor in my top 5 list but i will definitely have it if i can get my hands on. Very pleasing to drink.
I bought a bottle on sale today for 25 euro. Not a bad deal. I am new to whisky, still learning how to properly taste them
. . . it's a journey !
ive had a few bottles of this because its normally discounted to 25 quid or so, some have been lovely, no horrible nip or wierd flavours but recent ones have been a bit lacking and mostly got "solera-ed" becuase they just lacked clean clear sherried christmas cake flavours that i had previously
I feel like the word for aberlour 10/12 is “hot” it’s like a “hot” version of the 18 which is why letting it sit is good.
Got mine for 40 bucks in the states. I really enjoyed it, given I drink cheap bourbon regularly.
tnx ralfy you awsome malt mate !
Thank you for the review. Was just about to buy the 12y for the first time but after hearing your opinion decided to skip it and consider the 16y old one.
It is nothing wrong with 12, especially for price. It is nice sipping liquid for bunch of people.
would love to see reviews of signatory mortlach 20yo '96, glenfarclas 18 and springbank 15. anyway, keep up the good work mate!
Great job. Agreed malt mark.
Just bought mine for 20 Euros, I think I found a bargain, some whiskies here have unreasonably low prices. Glenlivet founder edition was 20 euros as well and it is not even on a discount
This review has been a long time coming. Glad you finally got round to it Ralfy :)
I've just had the current bottlings of the bourbon cask and the sherry cask Aberlour distillery exclusives and I would say the bourbon cask is at least as good as the sherry cask.
Lovely whisky. Rough round the edges but at the same time suitably complex. Makes me think what a good bourbon should taste like.
Ralfy i have the Aberlour Abunadh, 10, 12, 12 sherry travel retail, 16 and the 18. The 18 holds up against any other 18's out there, a great dram but I find the other AS whiskies a little bit 'meh'. Cheers Ralfy
I like their Double Cask 12 yr old.
I've just opened a late 2016 Bottle of Aberlour 12 and not had the harsh aexperience mentioned above - none of the rough attack Ralfy mentions here so my batch was well tended it appears.
Very good review.
More rum reviews!! :)
Ralfy, still working through batch 56 of abunah. Its getting better as it oxidizes. Adding a quarter quantity water to the glass and giving it about ten minutes helps mellow the spirity graininess. I think I'll give the twelve year old Aberlour next.
Ty Hargett its a different beast to abunah so bear that in mind because its not as full as abunah
john rickard Thanks for the advice. Abunah is about $86 including tax. I think even with the lower proof the twelve will have a better value. Batch 56 of Abunah that I have taste very young, barley malt and spirit driven. It's NAS, but I feel a few more years in cask would round it off and improve it.
Did not try this one in years, but why would they distill faster?
Howdy Ralfy and hope you're a roarin' good health) Just today in one of Moscow's shopping malls I bought a bottle of Aberlour 12 Double cask matured at a price of about 35 bucks (there was a whisky sale today. We often have such out there) Is it a fair decent price as compared to the UK?
Wow that distillery only bottle looks like ink. I really must visit Scotland.
I just bought my first ever bottle of this last week (Amazon offer @ £26.00). Very nice but I actually really like the 10 year one (my wife's favourite might I add) :)
Only difference i get is palette burn
Hi Ralfy, I live in Southern California and have enjoyed learning more about whisky over the last couple of years. So much so, I am just back from a visit to the Aberlour distillery. The tasting experience was excellent but disappointed that the production area was closed for remodeling. I didn't get a chance to ask this question. In a double cask whisky like this, how is it bottled? Is the whiskey in the oak and sherry wood aged separately then combined in the bottling process? Or does the whisky move from oak after aging then to sherry casks for more aging, then bottled? Just curious, and imagine the ratio of of time in each cask is a big secret, just needs to be minimally 12 years as advertised. Thanks, love your reviews. BTW, my favorite distillery stop was Glenturret, excellent small production tour. The worse was Glenfiddich, the guide admitted he doesn't like whisky, mumbled most of the way through the tour, and like Aberlour the production area was closed. Cheers!
. . . yes, Glenfiddich have a 'routine' tour. Double cask means 1st cask, then 2nd cask maturation consecutivly.
enjoyed this video (as always) with a wee Laphroaig Quarter Cask, you need to do again longer vids :) as i poored me Laphroaig PX it ended :)
keep it up and stay intinn fholláin i gcorp folláin
I bought this yesterday. The cylinder is different in design, the labeling different, the wording different (all superficial, of course) and bottled 5 years later than this review. I wonder how similar, how consistent this has been over 5 years, or if the distillery has changed things up a bit. Even the bottle is different. Perhaps they've slowed the distilling process?
I just had a dram of this whilst watching the review (having a drink with Ralfy is always educational) however I wasn’t getting any ‘roughness’ that ralfy experienced. Perhaps it has changed a little!!
@@KristianH1986 I see I wrote this over 4 months ago already! I found that of over 8 brands of Scotch whisky that I've tasted, I liked this one about the best. In fact, it became the basis of my own 'Infinity' bottle which I'm building now.
something happens in the last 3 years because the aberlour 12 here in Canada is Speyside double Cask. Will you do a review of this Speyside new edition?
Taking things further still ... I've still got a bottle of my muich beloved and sadly now discontinued BNJ (Baillie Nicol Jarvie) - that is a blend. This $40 Blend was more complex and preferable to some $100 Single Malts I have tried. So in the battle for quality vs price/value, there is a lot to be said for production vs advertising. I am often shocked by the high prices seen of many NAS offering from the major Whisky Distilleries ... perhaps the modus op is that if they put a high price on NAS they'll Jedi mind trick the public into believing it's worth it! On the other hand, when there are such formidable and dependable Bottles out there like Great King Street and Double Black (albeit blends) - why pay such high prices for something that is NAS in the first place?
I've been spoilt by selective integrity bottlings and better educated thanks to you Ralfy, so the Aberlour 12 which has recently been gifted to me felt a tad disappointing. I like the sherry cask influence, but find that the thinness of the 40% strength spirit does not deliver enough weight, so much so that any addition of water cannot be considered. It's pleasant enough for those times that you don't need to think too much about your dram, but why do they chill filter and add colour? Pernod Ricard should take a leaf out of the likes of Deanston, Annan and Ardbeg for example!
I like this whisky's rough edges, actually. I crave a rogue, hooligan whisky which has a rough off-the chart but sherried-sweet start and a mellow, leather-chair and pipe finnish. This Aberlour twelfer is one of those wee bastards.
Ralfy, thnx for the honest review! I was hoping this dram would be at least 43%, kinda disappointing really, it's what I call 📞 😕 a no-- fun whisky-- is there a particularly better Aberlour expression than the 12 yrs? Thnx again, you " Magnificent maven of fine spirits" ✨ 👌 🥃🍸
I had a bottle of this recently. Definitely decent for what it is, but would be so much better if they bottled it at a higher proof and didn't chill-filter it.
There is a 12 yr Non-Chill version bottled at 48% abv.
Which 12yo were you reviewing Ralfy? There's two 12yo expressions in the Aberlour stable - the 12yo Sherry Cask and the 12yo Double Cask matured. The latter is the cheaper of the two and IIRC it spends most of its maturation life in bourbon and is 'finished' in sherry. Pretty sure the bottle states that (or if not the bottle, the 'tube' that it comes in).
Looks like the double cask box
So, to make up for me commenting on Ardbeg 10 (below) accidentally instead of this Arberlour 12: Night and Day different for me. This was good, no, delicious. I'm still trying to come to terms with the Ardbeg 10 but it was 'love' at 1st taste for me when my wife and I tried this the other night. Wow.
SINGAPORE IS EXPENSIVE. IKR T.T sigh... ordering online can usually be cheaper than our local distributors. Up to differences of SGD 80...
27€ for 0.7 liter bottle here in Croatia, with some discount on the price. Bought it twice in a one year period... Well nothing to write home about and yes it's rough around the edges but main problem is that it does not have to much of a substance and for me it's one of those boring ish malts. It can't hold a candle to the mighty Glenfarclas 12yo witch is even cheaper here. Or it was, now I can't buy it anywhere.
I cant get any smoke plum yes peach maybe but rich xmas/fruit cake definitely
Did this whisky come off as almost Irish to anyone else? Reminded me of Black Bush style sherries Irish malt whiskey as much as it does Scotch malt.
Review is a little low in terms of rating but you’ve got the 40% version and across the drink we have the 43% version which is a real bump up. A solid albeit unspectacular 12 year old. Wish it was NCF and 100% natural color.
Ralfy, have you ever added a drop of sherry or port to your dram?
. . . yes, I did not work too well.
ralfystuff I think you had mentioned that the queen would drink her whisky that way.
Hey where is the rest of it??
Is there any way to browse through Ralfy's reviews based on malt marks? Or is only one way.. watch all videos? :D
ralfywhisky.webnode.be/ralfy/
Sameer Singh someone compiled a list. Just Google it, then go to the sidebar where it gives you the option to "see all malt marks" or something like that.
Thats awesome! Thank you both. :-)
ralfystuff I'm sorry to post something that's not about the video but could you please answer this. I'll be in Ireland in July and I have 12 days and it's all booked except the last half of trip. I want to go to islay, is it worth the extra couple of days and drive to balleycastle to take the Kintyre ferry? visiting there and touring laphroaig and ardbeg and possible jura is on my bucket list thx in advance if you have time to answer.
. . . if you have the time and patience, yes, it's a scenic trip but you will be covering quite a few miles and three ferries ! Good luck !
ralfystuff thx!!!!!!!
Ralfy, I was wondering what you think about older (~27 years) Blair Athol.
Or blair Athol in general.
. . . it does not stand out amongst malts ! really best for blends, but some good versions can be found !
I swear I thought I heard him say “ ..shitty” at the beginning of video. 🤦🏻♀️🤣🤣
Whaaat? At a certain point aberlour was probably the best single malt sold around the world. Anyhow, just bought a 2021 bottle, so I'll give it a try.
it is really burny on first contact with your mouth but then the sweet rich spicy dried fruits arrive with some nice aged oak. its good but could be better on the arrival.
Ralfy has sparked a great debate, the mark of a great vlog! Personally, I think age statements become more necessary as the price goes up. I certainly wouldn't hold it against a distillery if they put an age statement on their youngest whiskey. Older is not necessarily better, especially with regard to Bourbon.
In my fairly ltd exp. I agree on bourbon. The EC 12 is the oldest i've had and, while it was very good, the wood notes become a tad too dominant. Sipping an Evan Williams WL BiB at the moment (4 years old give or take ?) and it has a much better balance between wood and spirit, imo.
On NAS - It's funny how packaging influences us . . . put out a NAS and it gets slated, put a 5 year label on it and it gets praised ;)
That being said, transparency is important and I rarely buy NAS for that reason; unless I hear very good things, like 'Oogydal' or Quarter Cask for example.
FYI TH-cam notifications not working.
could we get a new review on the same bottle?
Just got a bottle much much better than the one i got a couple of years a go. Its a solid 90 x
Wouldn't it be cool if you had a friend with you in a review and you perform a blind tasting between 2 whiskies: one that is chillfiltered and coloured and one who is non chillfiltered and natural colour and see if you really notice the difference?
You gave the Aberlour 10yo 88/100, and this one 83/100. Is the 10yo a better whisky than the latter?
. . . yes !
Hey Ralfy is it Worth buying the aberlour 16 over 12 ???
. . . not really !
Is it worth buying your whisky at distillery?! Ralfy thows some subliminal message at 11:01 and it's not secret masonic/Illuminati hand sign, oh no! 😁
. . . oops !
Pricewise never... Very expensive. But if you want to support the distillery directly, then for sure.
Hi Ralfy, around how much for the Aberlour 18 in the UK?
. .. about £60
Sad that you have to pay more for it in the country of origin. 50 Euro here, in Bulgaria.
I tried to blend GlenDronach 12 with Springbank 10 but it didn't go well ^^'
I tried the same with a Glenfarclas 2000/2013 and Springbank 10, to give the Glenfarclas a bit of the slightly peaty and oily Charakter, but these two didn't work very well together in my opinion. Like them more as a Single Malt.;)
But i had a very interesting experience yesterday. A friend of mine had a half emptied carafe of a Loch Lomond (the old Blue Label one), which was oxidating for quite some years until now. I hated the Loch Lomond, but now, all i hated about it, was gone. Only creamy and citrus notes stayed, with a very short, but at least not painfully Fnish. Blended together with a Teaspoon of Smokehead, which i didn't like very much as well (too young, too one-dimensional), it became a very pleasant Whisky. These two together, were better than the sum of their parts.
+T0bi1983 Good to know! Thx for the info :-)
I had a little "blend" that I was doing a couple months ago - a splash of Lagavulin 8 into either Jameson Caskmates or Glenfarclas 12. A little peat really helped the Irish whiskey (got the idea from one of Ralfy's previous reviews).
My last 'fiddle' was with Glenfiddich 12 and AnCnoc 12. I find the former OK but the oily, pear note gets a bit much. The slight peat in the ancnoc and more prominent barley sugar notes made a really lovely dram.
Were it not for Ralfy I don't think I'd have dared 'blend' my own :)
Yesterday I bought it in Malta for 29€
Just bought one $60.00 CAD
$66 Cad now. 3/6/2021
12 years non chill filtered wasn't bad
I much prefer the 10 over the 12
Newsystem10 really, I had the 10 and was meh, looking forward to this one.
What a muppet, not a clue. I got, fresh fruit and cinnamon on the nose. Buttery smoothness, dark chocolate, sherry on the pallet and a spicy finish.
You’re a plonker
£31 in Sweden. Reasonable by British standards?
. . . yes, that's a good price in comparison to other 'desirable' malts.
£25 on Amazon this (malt) moment. Dealt. x
All kinds of smarts jumped into my brain watching this one. Thanks! Even if you did flip us the bird ;-)
Is this better than 12 NCF??????
. . . not tried that version yet !
ralfy review 637? That's the headline!!! :o/
You've changed it!!! :o)
. . . I changed it once I spotted the blooper !
ralfystuff Ralfy how much did you pay for the cask strength Aberlour? It is so dark and looks delicious. Is it comparable to the abunadh?
This is probably controversial to say on your channel, and you malt mates are probably going to throw me flak for this, but Ralfy, at 13:24 and on you're basically making the case for NAS whiskies. As you state here and on many other reviews, adding a small drop of an older, or younger, malt to something not so great can really liven it up and make an incredibly enjoyable experience. Sure, it would be great if producers could be fully transparent in their age statements, but do you really think Joe Everyman is going to be open minded enough to go for the $150 "3 Year Deluxe" when, sitting on the shelf just a couple bottles away, is a 12 year malt for $40? Come on, man, they have to deal with marketing realities. I think your embargo on NAS whiskies has run its course, and you've only reinforced this with the latter half of your review.
As always, thank you for all you do. Despite my disagreement, I really appreciate watching your videos.
Take care.
. . . the bigger issue is that NAS whiskies allow for poor quality, whatever the age of contributing whiskies, whereas any age statement give a tangible point of reference to whatever is in the bottle in relation to the price, I don't want to be paying too much for poor maturation of young whisky which is then topped-up with a drop of older rectifying malts to achieve an passable standard.
ralfystuff That's totally fair, but that statement comes from a place of assumption where every NAS is just starting with poor whisky. Would you say Oogy falls under that banner? Because while I think the quality of that dram has suffered of late, I don't think it's fair to make a blanket statement that, because it's a NAS bottling, it starts with piss and ends with passable stuff.
Likewise, I've had my fair share of over-oaked older, age-stated hooch. Just because it's got an age on it does not in any way suggest there's quality product inside. Your demonstration here supports the notion that taking older juice and adding some young stuff in there can really lift things and make a mediocre malt superb (and vice versa for younger stuff). Adding a "teaspoon" of 5 year old malt to a cask of 21 year old malt destroys the marketability of the malt if we're just going off of age statements, and I think that's a fair sentiment to afford producers. (and now I sound like an industry shill)
Thanks for your thoughts.
ralfystuff I think what I mean to say is that perhaps, instead of a blanket prohibition on NAS whisky, perhaps you could just not review shit NAS offerings (or publicly shame them). The fact of the matter is that an increasing amount of what's available to us is NAS, and your viewership really does benefit from your thoughts on what's available, myself included.
The entire argument really boils down to transparency and authenticity. It's true what you say -these distilleries are in business for a reason and they are all competing for market share with different distillers often targeting different segments. Many of us who would locate themselves within the enthusiast segment take the position that long-term, the NAS trend poses a threat to what Ralfy often refers to as implicit quality. I suspect that NAS today takes on a bit of a different meaning than it has had in the past wherein currently, the rule seems to be that the practice is not so much utilized for the purpose you suggest but rather a method by which casks and stocks are optimized, largely because the overall growth of the market includes many consumers far more interested in a pedigree or a fancy promotion. Sooner or later, the novelty of single malt will wear off leaving the enthusiasts to deal with the potential mess left behind. I'm not going to cry about it, but I'm sure as hell not going to fund it either.
I certainly wouldn't be open minded enough to go for a $150 3 year, but I wouldn't go for a $150 NAS either. A $150 bottle with full transparency I would consider based on the information revealed with that transparency, but that is not possible because the transparency is not an option (unless you're compass box)
I don't want to put words in anyone else's mouth and Ralfy can defend himself, but the way I see it, it is the ban on transparency that is the real issue. It forces a producer who bottles an old malt with a dollop of young whisky to label it 3 year or NAS so from a marketing standpoint it is a no-brainer to choose NAS and for that reason there will be some really great NAS whiskies as you say.
However, the fact that there ARE some great, well aged NAS whiskies as you say is what also allows less scrupulous producers to pass off younger rougher stuff at a higher price like Ralfy says.
This has now gone to shyte Ralfy. Any plans to re-review as since the packaging update i think its turned to pure acetone. Im overstating it probably but it is not a sherried whisky in my book any more. Tastes very thin and light.
I’ve only had it with the new packaging. It was meh
Does 35 pounds sound reasonable for this whisky to you ? That's the equivalent I pay in Canadian dollars for it.
Im UK based and we're lucky in that most supermarkets stock it and have it on offer quite a bit. I paid £25 for the 2 I've had. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than £30 (given what else is out there) for it but its good value when on offer. Cheaper than some blends . . .
. . . £35 is around the usual price for many malts in the UK
Sounds about right then. But when you go to higher end malt, I think we get the shaft. For example, 70 pounds for Lagavulin 16 is what I pay in CAD dollars here.
That seems to be an awfully dark 16yr old malt. Coloring?
It's natural colour according to Ralfy, watch at 10:14. Quite cool if you ask me.
It looks almost black and opaque
philliumo Yeah haha, I'd be dissuaded from buying anything with that colour.
I just noticed that on the bottle's front label it states: "Sea spray. Tarry rope. Immense smokey intensity". The last two are certainly understatements! This is my 1st taste of a 'peated' malt and I can honestly say I'm probably not going to be a peat fan. But I'm not sorry I tried one - now I know what peated malts are about. Not throwing this one out - I'll find someone who likes it and will trade me for something else.
oops, this was the Ardbeg 10, not the aberlour 12. too many reviews to try to keep track of. Sorry.
£39 in Vancouver, Canada
We're still using Canadian dollars here in Nova Scotia, but the 12yo isn't even available.
Superstore in Calgary, Alberta sells the Aberlour 12 for CDN$52 (£30) and the 10 for CDN$48 (£28); I have seen the 16 at the Co-Op for CDN$93 (£54).
not first ;)
Damn I'm early
I really dislike aberlour. It’s one of those whisky’s easily available to beginners and it must put so many people off whisky, Talisker 10 also too rough for me. Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Glenlivet are all better for a beginner . I didn’t really get whisky till I tried Laphroaig QC. Then I was hooked
For "haveable" you might choose obtainable, ralfy ;)