Aberlour A'bunadh

The box and bottle have handwritten labels telling you which batch your bottle comes from and the alcohol level. Mine is batch 28. So I guess unless you've read a review of all the batches it means there's an element of luck. Which is kind of exciting. So would luck favour the brave this time?

Nose: initially Cadbury's Eclaires (a caramel sweet with a chocolate centre for the non-uk members) I could say caramel and chocolate but if you've ever smelled an Eclaire you'd know what I mean, next coffee liqueur followed by some dry spice and a hint of bitchumen.

Palate: Coffee, chocolate, a hint of dark cherry; nothing floral or zesty here this is dark, earthy and grounded. On the nose you got the sense this might be sickly but no worries about that. There's a dryness possibly in part due to the alcohol content (59.7%) but even after the addition of a fair amount of water it still doesn't soften too much. After a while those dry spices come in. And that alchohol takes the vapours back up your nose from the other side!

Finish: is long, good acidity on the sides of the tongue and once the anaesthetic effect of the alcohol wears off a hint of liquorice comes through. I could taste it long after the glass was empty.

This isn't super refined but I mean that in a good way. Its rich and complex but brash and ballsy with it. Do I like it? Hell yeah! From the endearingly stubby wax sealed bottle past the powerful nose and onto the intense flavours and alcohol kick, this is charming, out-spoken and fun. I enjoyed drinking it. Which, I think, is the point.

Good on a cold winter evening but with those chocolate, coffee and spice flavours I could imagine sipping it outside, late, on a balmy summer night.