Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon refill
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Bacardi
Average price: € 65.00
Official website: www.aultmore.com
Vote: 84/100
After trying three independent versions, we pour into the glass the basic one coming directly from the distillery, which offers few bottlings in its portfolio: this one, the 18 and the 21 year old.
Much of the whisky ends up in the blends of John Dewar & Sons, the distillery’s current owner who is in turn controlled by Bacardi, but something fortunately manages to escape into the bottles in a series named Foggie Moss, a reminder of how the location is often shrouded in Speyside fog.
No chillfiltration and no colouring agents, which for such a minimal production is very welcome.
Tasting notes
Soft and spicy on the nose, with yellow fruit smeared over freshly cut wood with vanilla bean, crumbled malt biscuits, a teaspoon of honey and a squeeze of lemon. Youthful, straightforward, simple but far from boring, what you would call a clean whisky.
In the mouth it has a nice body, with just a hint of black pepper, the herbaceous soul that grows in intensity with bitter veins from which espresso coffee and nuts (walnuts and almonds) emerge. Malt, green apple, lemon cream, it becomes very astringent in length.
The finish is long enough and dry, herbaceous, malt, nuts, banana bread, lemon memories.
Living proof that simple things require skill, a straightforward, unadulterated whisky, almost like like a white wine as an aperitif, can be drunk effortlessy because of its ability to be pleasant without excess. And that’s no small thing.