Aultmore 35 1982 Adelphi

Thanks to /u/xile_[ for pouring me this dram.

It’s the end of the year. We’re having whiskies of which we saved onto to eventually have. It’s all a great time.

So we’re doing the next one blind. Which, of course, means I didn’t guess it correctly. Aultmore 35 1982 Adelphi is what it eventually was revealed to be.

So first off, it’s pretty amazing to have a fifth birthday dram in my birthday month. But this isn’t about when I decided to grace you all with my existence (you’re welcome, by the way).

So what do we have here? Well, it’s a very rare offering from Aultmore, what with being 35 years old. It’s been aged in American Oak ex-Sherry casks, handed to us at cask strength without anyone mucking about with it.

Others loved this. What do I think? Let’s see, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Speyside

Vintage: 1982

Bottled: 2017

Cask Number: 1575

Number of bottles: 196

Abv: 54.8%

Colour: 10YR 3/6

Nose: Raw red Kool-aid powder, stone fruit, plantains, coffee, hot cross buns

Immediate sherry influence. Tons of banana/stone fruit notes, and some coffee. The odd thing about Aultmore is it’s usually grassy, whereas the nose here would denote more of a fruity/Highland profile.

Thus the question comes up: Am I enjoying the sherry aspect influence alone, does Aultmore take on these things after three decades, did they do something different in the 80s, or is it a mix?

Taste: Papaya, caramelized pineapple, banana, leather, tangerine, treacle

Tropical. Really tropical, lovely leather note you get from a sherry cask that has been properly used, and tons of brown sugar/burnt sugar notes. Like sipping on an English pudding.

Wait, pudding means dessert to them and means half cake/half pudding to me. I mean the second one. Except its liquid and less diabetes.

Finish: Honeydew melon, orange, pineapple, a sugar glaze, oak, brown sugar, grass

More of that fruit blast, good mix of different levels of acidity, bitterness and sweetness. We finally get some of the grassy note I heavily associate with Aultmore. Which somewhat answers my question at the start.

The sherry cask ran away with this one.

Conclusion: A nice sherry forward whisky that shares less of the profile of the distillery, sadly. Look, I’m not going to complain if I drink a whisky that tastes like sherry influence alone. It’s a sherry bomb, pure and simple. However, I will dock points from something.

There are some people who love sherry forward whiskies, and this is for them. It’s a good strength, good amount of complexity, and overall well made. But seriously this could be any Highland or Speyside distillery. There’s nothing Aultmore about this whisky.

No, I’m not just bitter I got it wrong, why do you ask?

Joking aside, I enjoyed this to a point. As much as I enjoy other sherry bombs, and with them being rarer, I can see why this gets praise. It deserves praise. I think there are alternative 35-year-old whiskies I’d reach for. You know, from my golden throne in my floating cloud city.

85/100

Guess: Ex-sherry cask, Highland, 49-51%, 30+ years, Tormore

Actually: Aultmore 35 1982 Adelphi

Scotch review #1083, Speyside review #303, Whisky review #1688