Aberlour A'bunadh

This is cask strength "Single cask maturation in Spanish Oloroso Sherry Butts" whisky, whatever that means, exactly. No cask numbering is offered on the bottle or on the tube. This is a review of batch #32. I did this tasting as a side by side comparison with my bottle of batch #26, about which I recently did a review

Nose: moderate to strong intensity, sherry wine, some malt, a little smoke. Nosed side to side with batch #26 (an excellent batch) the only noticeable differences are that the nose of batch #32 is more intense, and showing a little more of the high notes of the sherry

Taste: a little different time order of presentation than the batch #26-- sweet sherry, OAK WOOD, which was almost invisible in #26, walnuts and chestnuts, like # 26, but of lesser influence, moderate smoke, mown grass, and yes, rosewater

Finish: once again for A'bunadh, the sherry lasts long, but I am picking up some remaining wood flavours, together with the underlying smoke and rosewater. I really didn't notice the wood in the taste or finish of batch #26

Balance: This is a great batch of A'bunadh. The flavours work very well together. Batch # 26 is wonderful, and I like this batch # 32 even just a little more. I like some noticeable wood in the mix on the palate and on the finish. I have to say, these batches of A'bunadh are individual enough that I very much think that they merit individual reviews and ratings. I look forward to owning more batches in the future