Aberfeldy 12 Year

I remember back in about the year 2000 or so I attended a bonfire with my great friend Mickey, out in Damascus, Maryland, my hometown. The liquor choices at the bonfire were between two bottom of the barrel rums (ugggggh) and ... Dewar's White Label. Well, OK, I thought, I'll try this Scotch business. I liked it but didn't love it. 

Since then I've had Dewar's in about a hundred cocktails, which is really its starring role - as a mixer. It is just "Scotchy" enough to be unmistakable, but just bland enough to not stick out. More grain than malt in that way. The chief single malt in Dewar's White Label - the heart of the blend - is Aberfeldy. 


In fact, their label sings this as the dram's biggest draw - "The Heart of Dewar's." Single malts have been steadily gaining in profile and prestige over the last 25 years - and the rising prices certainly reflect this - and many of the Giant Beverage Corporations (Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Luis Vuitton Hennessy Moet, Suntory, Beam/Fortune Brands, William Grant and Sons, InBev, the list goes on and on) have been investing in Scotch distilleries and then unveiling single malt offerings from distillers traditionally known only for contributing to blends. 

Aberfeldy is one of the lesser known ones. It doesn't even merit its own section on the Dewar's page (as of the time of this posting). So let's see what a dozen years in ex-bourbon barrels, bottled at 40% ABV, can do in this relatively little-known bottle...

Nose: What a strange nose! The first scent here is thin mint with a very light overtone of smoke. The mint occasionally brings other herbs with it - heather? I'm not sure. There is sour fruit that gives way to a floor of soft red mushy apples. Alcohol intermixed strongly throughout, but it's ok - it sort of backs up the other flavors rather than canceling them out. A little vanilla. All together, it's an odd nose: mint and fruit and light smoke make for strange bedfellows. 

Mouthfeel: Thin, very thin. I wish this was 43% or 46%. I would be quite curious to taste this at cask strength. 

Palate: Spicy, then sweet, then smoky. The taste is nice and never harsh: some watery honey, that same minty herbal thing, something faint that tastes strikingly like white chocolate, and sweet sweet orange (clementines?). Surprisingly floral flavor. However, the whole experience is so brief that you really can't call it anything but simple. Yet all the flavors are rather harmonious, even if perhaps not perfectly integrated. It's pleasant. I bet with a few more years of aging, this would be marvelous. 

Finish: Here is where things get sort of interesting. All the faint smoke from the nose hides until after you swallow... then you discover that the smoke has remained. Hiding in my teeth? In my cheeks? I'm not sure what is going on, but I kind of like it. The peat is so mild everywhere until the finish, then it stays - like the host of a party cleaning up after the guests have departed. Adds a nice layer to the experience. 

Verdict: This is a tough one. There is little to recommend it against other $30-40 single malts ... but it doesn't do anything wrong, either. No missteps but no skips, leaps, or bounds either. I think this is a great Scotch to recommend to people who are curious about Scotch but afraid of its reputation as a harsh, smoky beast. I would Recommend this above Dalwhinnie 15 and The Dalmore 12 and certainly over The Glenlivet 12 and Glenfiddich 12, but it's not for people seeking bold statements of flavor. It's light, graceful, smooth, but thin and rather unambitious. And yet... I like it. If only there was more of this in Dewar's White Label... and much less of everything else.  

Link to the terrible Dewar's page which makes absolutely no mention of Aberfeldy: http://thedrinkingmansscotch.dewars.com/mainpage