Thanks to /u/ScotchGuy_TO for pouring me a sample.
My buddy shows up to whisky tastings with lots, and lots of whiskies. Which I appreciate, because… well, look around.
I like to make jokes, taking them much too far due to my inability to understand social cues and rampant belief that no, it’s everyone else that’s wrong.
Mix these two together? One person mentions they don’t love Aultmore, I tease I’m changing what I’m bringing to Aultmore, my buddy who has a collection that puts most whisky stores to shame says he has one, we all laugh, and another buddy admits he actually likes Aultmore.
That’s the closest we get to sharing real human thoughts to one another. Well I didn’t end up bringing my Aultmore to the last tasting, because the one guy who likes Aultmore wasn’t showing up, but he was for this one.
So my buddy who shows up with lots of whisky? Shows up with Aultmore 17 2014 Cadenhead Small Batch, a Binny’s store selection from back when we could both travel to the USA for it and back when Cadenhead didn’t announce the cancellation of Small Batch.
Now it’s a 17-year-old Aultmore, and I’ve had some fancy Aultmores. So how will it stack up? Let’s see, shall we?
Price: I have no idea. Can’t find it anywhere. Probably more than it originally cost. Or not, I don’t know, economics is tough.
Region: Speyside
Vintage: 1997
Bottled: 2014
Cask type Bourbon Hogshead
Number of bottles: 228
Bottled for: Binny’s Beverage Depot
Abv: 54.1%
Colour: 7.5Y 9/3
Nose: Grapefruit/pomelo, sweet cereal, lemon, daisy
In a recent Discord talk (no, I’m not about to say misogynist racist porn here) there was a discussion of how pomelo doesn’t show up for some people, and that saddens them.
This gave me that on the nose, which was nice. Because it wasn’t orange. Instead it’s more acidic and light.
Taste: Butterscotch, dried pineapple, oak, apple
Sweet, dry sweet, vanilla/wood sweet, and stone fruit sweet? But not too sweet, but kinda too sweet.
I do like the amount of fruit I’m getting here. Very fruity dram.
Finish: Grassy, anise, pineapple, smoke, orange
I actually asked the group if some open bottles were giving off smoke notes or if they got them too. And yes, there’s a bit of smoke, which was a surprise.
Also it’s quite grassy, and still very fruity. Sadly there’s orange, so it’s dead to me (I’m joking).
Conclusion: Extremely fruity. Super fruity. On the good side, when I compare it to simpler Aultmores I’ve had, I prefer the fruitiness. On the other hand, if you are averse to too much acidity, it may not be for you. You may wish it had more farminess. Or mineral notes.
Who would I pour this for? Non-whisky drinkers and whisky nerds, weirdly. Non-whisky nerds because they’d love all of the fruit. Whisky nerds just so they can try an Aultmore that goes to more fruit versus grassiness.
83/100
Scotch review #1537, Speyside review #436, Whisky Network review #2257
tomoderawhisky.ca 