Aberfeldy 10 Years Old 2013 ‘Fizzy fruit smoothie’ (SMWS 60.38)

Distilled at Aberfeldy in 2013 and matured 10 years in a single ex Bourbon cask, bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society under code 60.38 and the character name 'Fizzy fruit smoothie' for the German specialist market. 164 bottles in total, a notably tight yield from the cask. Three cask numbers higher than the 60.35 release from the same vintage, suggesting both were drawn from the same 2013 Aberfeldy parcel in the society's warehouses.

Long fermentation Aberfeldy wash from the four still configuration, distilled in 2013 under John Dewar & Sons (Bacardi) ownership. Filled into a single ex Bourbon cask and aged 10 years. The low 164 bottle yield at 57.3% points to a smaller format cask (a quarter cask or octave rather than a standard hogshead) or to higher than average evaporation from a more active warehouse position. Bottled at SMWS house specification: cask strength, no chill filtering, no caramel adjustment.

A smaller format cask runs more wood contact per litre than a standard hogshead, which accelerates the extraction profile: vanillin from lignin breakdown moves faster, cis whisky lactones reach a higher concentration sooner, and the wood derived furanic compounds (furfural, 5 hydroxymethylfurfural) contribute more developed sweetness at younger age than a hogshead would. Aberfeldy's house esters (ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, heavier alcohols) hold the heather honey and beeswax base, with the higher wood ratio framing it more tightly than the 60.35 sibling cask.