Aberfeldy Exceptional Cask Series – Small Batch – Limited Edition 24 Years Old 1998

Distilled at Aberfeldy in 1998 and matured 24 years in a single Madeira wine cask numbered 110, bottled by John Dewar & Sons in 2023 at cask strength 54.4% under the Exceptional Cask Series Small Batch Limited Edition for the Dutch specialist trade. 288 bottles in total. The Madeira cask is one of the rarer full term maturation choices in the ECS programme, sitting alongside the more common Oloroso, PX and ex Bourbon casks that make up the bulk of the series.

Long fermentation Aberfeldy wash from the four still post expansion configuration, distilled in 1998 in the transition year between United Distillers and Bacardi ownership. Filled into a single Madeira wine cask and aged 24 years at the distillery's warehouses. Bottled at cask strength 54.4% with no chill filtering and no caramel adjustment under the ECS house specification.

A Madeira wine cask carries a distinctly different chemistry from sherry: Madeira is produced through deliberate heat exposure (estufagem) plus oxidative ageing, which concentrates sotolon (3 hydroxy 4,5 dimethyl 2(5H) furanone) to levels well above Oloroso, drives heavy maillard products through the wine reduction phase, and retains high fructose content. The result is intense baked apple, brûléed sugar and dried orange peel, with deeper sotolon depth than sherry casks produce. Aberfeldy's house esters (ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, heavier alcohols) hold the heather honey base, lifted onto the Madeira layer with notable density.