Aberlour 2011 CA & A'Bunadh Batch #65

Aberlour 2011 Cadenhead & A’Bunadh #65

We’ve already reviewed a few Aberlour on these pages. Aberlour is a distillery with a strong presence in France, which is not surprising as it is owned, through Chivas Brothers, by Pernod Ricard. Aberlour’s range is kind of separated in two parts. The first part is the ‘supermarket range’, with age statements but low 40% ABV and quite affordable prices, and the second part is more like the ‘off-licence range’, with higher ABVs up to cask strength and single casks, but mostly non-age statement expressions, like the famous A’Bunadh. We’re reviewing today a recent (but not the latest) batch of A’Bunadh, the #65, and put it against a single cask Aberlour 2011 bottled by Cadenhead’s.

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Creations 1996 Light Fruity Syrupy Cadenhead's

Creations 1996 Cadenhead’s

The Cadenhead’s Creations range consisted of small batch blends, blended malts, and blended grains, with a maximum of 3 casks used in each blend. Sometimes, these were single cask releases. Featuring an old style dumpy bottle, this range saw twenty releases until 2019, when it was stopped. The Creations range included a variety of ages and the strength of each bottling was determined solely by taste. The Cadenhead Creations range was known for being particularly innovative and interesting among Cadenhead’s releases. These bottlings were not chill filtered or artificially coloured. We’re reviewing today one of them, the Creations 1996 Light Fruity Syrupy.

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Old vs New Glen Grant

Old vs New Glen Grant

We’re going to compare today two Glen Grant whiskies, that couldn’t be more different on paper. The first one is an official bottling, reduced to 40% ABV, and has been bottled in the 1970s. The second one is from an independent bottler, Cadenhead’s, at cask strength and bottled in 2022. What is the point of that comparison you will ask? Well, first, I like to do comparisons. Here, I hope to see if I can find similarities despite the huge time frame between the two, but also find what differences will be there. I also want to have comparison points. It’s harder than you’d think to rate a whisky without any reference point. By itself, is this whisky worth 80, 84, more? Now compared to another one, you can already ascertain which one you prefer. Now I must admit, in order to have a more reliable rating system, I should have a common reference point in all my reviews. And unfortunately… I do not. I know some famous whisky reviewers always start their tasting session with a dram of always the same whisky. First it allows them to see if their palate and nose are working correctly as they’ll have that usual reference point. And secondly, this reference point will help them rate correctly the whiskies they’re reviewing. It’s not something I do for now, but I guess I should really consider starting doing that. More whisky spendings incoming I guess… Anyway, for now, no reference point, and anyway, it’s my own objective but still a bit subjective rating system, so you’ll have to bear with it! So let’s do an Old vs New Glen Grant review!

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