Aberlour A'bunadh

The A'bunadh from Aberlour, whose 10 year old is a fantastic malt, is a cask strength whisky in a 19th century style bottle (basically shorter, squatter, with a wider mouth). My bottle came from batch 18 bottled in 2006 at a strength of 59.7% ABV. The color is quite dark, almost a deep rich crimson. It seemed to smell like a bourbon at first (which is funny, because I believe it is only aged in sherry casks). The nose is quite sweet --- like a port, but not quite. It's got a cough-drop smell, maybe some eucalyptus.

After adding water it gets softer, but the sherry still comes through strong. There's a slight bit of smoke. It's very rough going down, even with water. I added more, but you need to go a long way with the water to keep it from dragging the grappling hooks the entire way down your throat. This is powerful stuff that makes you gasp if you're not careful. I added more water and got a slight bit of mint.

This is not a subtle drink. Supposedly distilled to be closer to the 19th century standard, it makes me worry a bit about the Macallan 1851 Inspiration I bought in Seoul airport -- that's also supposed to be a 19th century-like whisky. Since the Inspiration is only available in duty frees, though, I plan to hold onto it.