Review by: dustbunna

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Distillery: Aultmore.

Bottler: Distillery bottling.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 46%.

Age: 18 years. Bottled in 2015.

Cask type: Undisclosed but probably mostly ex-bourbon casks.

Price: Gift (goes for $110 USD locally)

Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Bottle open across approx. 8 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point.

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Nose: malt, peach, pear, lemon zest, chocolate Necco wafers, pear candy, icing sugar, chalk.

Palate: medium body ~ peaches and pears follow through, more lemon and chocolate, soapstone, Bartlett pear skins, bubblegum, orange juice, some bitterness.

Finish: medium-short ~ a little malty funk, more lemon, more icing sugar and pear skins. 

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Conclusion: Aultmore always strikes me as a fairly middle-of-the-road, “Scotchy” Scotch with a lot of malt presence. This was a dusty pick-up gifted to me, and the bottling date surprised me as it’s increasingly rare for me to find bottles from nearly a decade ago hanging out on retail shelves in my area. With a little bit more age, building upon what I remember from the 12yr, this 18yr begins to bring in some welcome fruit and chocolate to the profile. After giving it ample time, I’ve found that it’s a good whisky, but suffers somewhat from its own neutrality—everything is harmonious, but quiet and very much expected, nothing surprising or captivating. I can’t help but feel like it’s missing something to make it pop…the flavors work well, but only when sipping this by itself, and any nuances take significant effort to tease out—so it seems to be a better sipping whisky than a thinking whisky, at least for me.

Final Score: 79.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.