Aberfeldy 13 Years Old 1998 Cask #64 (Commitment to Malt)

Distilled at Aberfeldy in 1998 and matured 13 years in a single ex Bourbon cask numbered 64, bottled by Commitment to Malt in 2011 at cask strength 57.6% for the German specialist trade. 261 bottles in total. Commitment to Malt is a German indie bottling line active across the 2000s and 2010s, focused on single cask cask strength releases drawn through specialist warehouse partner relationships, with the German market as its primary distribution channel.

Long fermentation Aberfeldy wash from the four still post expansion configuration, distilled in 1998 in the transition year between United Distillers and Bacardi ownership of the distillery. Filled into a single ex Bourbon cask and aged 13 years before bottling at full cask strength 57.6% with no chill filtering and no caramel adjustment.

Thirteen years in ex Bourbon American oak at cask strength gives a working oak profile: vanillin from lignin breakdown at moderate to upper levels, cis whisky lactones contributing coconut and dill, and hemicellulose breakdown supplying furfural and the soft caramel layer. Aberfeldy's house esters (ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, heavier fusel alcohols) drive the heather honey core at the cask's full strength, with the elevated bottling holding ester volatility on the nose and an oily texture intact on the palate.