Aberfeldy 10 Years Old (Premier Barrel, Alternate Batch)

An Aberfeldy 10 year old bottled by Douglas Laing under the Premier Barrel series for the European specialist trade. 223 bottles total, a noticeably tight run compared to typical Premier Barrel allocations from this distillery which more often sit in the 280 to 350 bottle range. Released in the line's standard ceramic decanter format.

Long fermentation Aberfeldy wash from the four still configuration, distilled in Perthshire under John Dewar & Sons (Bacardi) ownership. Aged 10 years in ex Bourbon American oak at Douglas Laing's bonded warehouses. Bottled at the Premier Barrel house specification of 46% with reduced chill filtering and no caramel adjustment.

A smaller batch yield typically reflects either a smaller cask format (a quarter cask or octave rather than a standard hogshead) or earlier evaporation from a more active warehouse position. Either way the wood interaction per litre tends to run slightly above what a 320 bottle hogshead would produce at the same age: vanillin from lignin breakdown sits a touch higher, cis whisky lactones are more pronounced and furanic compounds from hemicellulose breakdown contribute more developed caramel and cereal notes. Aberfeldy's house esters (ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, heavier alcohols) still drive the honey base, with the slightly tighter wood signature framing the centre more firmly than the larger volume sibling.