Aberlour Triple Cask has been around for a while, but we’ve never had it before. It was originally for the French market. The rest of the world got a Double Cask, or so it seems.
The whisky has been matured in a combination of bourbon barrels, bourbon hogsheads and (European oak) oloroso sherry casks.
Aberlour Triple Cask (40%, OB +/- 2025)
Nose: fresh and attractive. Creamy toffee and lots of apple aromas, both yellow and green. Then gummi bears, hints of raisins and malty sweetness. Some biscuity notes, hints of ginger and increasing sawdust after a while. Is virgin oak involved?
Mouth: a lot of peppery notes at first, with a vague caramel sweetness and plenty of vanilla notes. Then it falls flat, or more precisely everything disappears except for the youngish woody notes. Some dried herbs, maybe orange notes and then hints of toasted almonds and hazelnuts. Limited complexity.
Finish: short and slightly boozy, with peanut butter and wood spice.
Very much an entry-level expression: quite rough but also thin at the same time. In fact you can even detect a certain contempt for the oversees market in this whisky. With the 12 Year Old going for less than € 35 in some French supermarkets, I don’t see why you would pick this NAS expression. Now also available from The Whisky Exchange or Master of Malt for instance, but even there the label is mostly in French.