Today’s review of the Aultmore 12 year old is the last in this series of entry-level single malts exclusively aged in ex-bourbon casks. Exploring a lesser-known brand also gives me a chance to discover how small single malt is relative to the wider context of Scottish whisky.
TL:DR: A banger of a lighter-style single malt, severely undervalued
Vote*: 7, very good stuff
Preconceptions busted
There is something I always enjoy about exploring a new topic, be it for work or as a hobby. It’s the pleasure of discovering new facts you were completely unaware of and which challenge your perception. Sure that can also create some self-doubt but it is one of the things that makes a new passion exciting. By the way, if you are a new drinker like me, check my 6 tips for new whisky drinkers. Shameless plug over.
I stumbled into reviewing this Aultmore 12, to be honest. It is not a bottle I have seen around in my usual shops, both local and online. I ran into this bottle at a Duty Free shop in Asia while on a business trip. Remembering a couple of very positive YouTube reviews, I decided to take it home back to Italy with me. Only later did I realise this is a single malt aged exclusively in ex-Bourbon casks, adding a welcome extra bottle to explore the influence this cask type brings
When I started researching Aultmore, owned by Dewars/Bacardi, for this intro, I was surprised to learn that only a tiny proportion of its output is bottled as single malt. According to Ingvar Ronde’s Malt yearbook, the output is tiny. Out of the approximately 3 million litres produced per year, just 125 thousand single malt bottles are released. Most of the spirit goes into Dewar’s namesake blend and the William Lawson’s blend. That is an astoundingly small 3% of thereabouts of the total output. Instead of further researching Aultmore, my curiosity was captured by this disproportion. Was Aultmore unique?
The “hidden” single malt distilleries
Using the Malt Yearbook as a starting point ,I started looking at those distilleries that have no or extremely limited original bottlings. Not surprisingly I quickly realised Aultmore is far from the exception. There are about 20 or so distilleries mainly dedicated to producing single malt for blends. Equally unsurprising is that most of these are owned by the largest players in the Scotch whisky arena. Diageo, Chivas Bros, Ballantine’s and William Grant own pretty much all of them. What was more surprising was to see that out of the 10 largest single malt distilleries by volume, 4 (Roseile, Ailsa Bay, Teaninich and Dalmunach) are mainly producing spirit for blends. This made me wonder: how much of the whisky produced in Scotland actually ends up as single malt?
So where is all that whisky going?
Although I have no prejudice against blends (just check my recent suggestions on blends), I naively thought that single malt would represent a significant proportion (in volume) of the total sales coming from Scottish whisky. The 2023 export data from the Scottish Whisky Association paints a more realistic picture. Single malt is, by volume, only just over 11% of the total exports. Relatively to the rest of the spirit exported, it is the most valuable product, since that 11% in volume becomes 36% in value.
Still, it starts putting into context that the drink I am so passionate about is responsible for only one in ten bottles sold. Doing a quick calculation also reveals that the average cost per exported bottle is just 12.95 GBP, hardly the price for a top-of-the-line single malt… so what percentage of the market do whisky geeks/aficionados/botherers (choose your moniker) actually make up? I have heard a well-respected goateed and white-haired whisky YouTuber often state we are just a small percentage of single malt drinkers, and that would not surprise me.
Does it surprise me that geeky whisky consumers probably make up probably less than 1% of total whisky purchases? Absolutely! Does it disappoint me? Yes and no. On the one hand, having a larger community can make it more lively, on the other… more good stuff for us! And now let’s dive into the review of the Aultmore 12.
Aultmore of the Foggie Moss 12 year old
Specs
Price paid: €62 (1 litre bottle, equivalent to €44,10 for 700 ml)
Lot/bottled date: L22216ZA0021342
ABV: 46%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: not stated but reported to be 100% refill ex-bourbon hoghsheads
Tasting Notes
Colour: a bright lemony gold
Nose: Clean and fresh, medium intensity. The primary notes are fruity (green apples, peach, a little pineapple), lemon candy, vanilla, malted biscuit and a touch of fresh hay. It may appear simple but once my nose gets used to these notes there is some hidden complexity. I smell a touch of honey, some spekuloos spice (ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon), toffee and some creamy white chocolate.
While there is only a little evolution of the aromas in the glass, they are very persistent.
Taste: Medium mouthfeel. The taste is more malt forward, with porridge oats and malted biscuits, pineapple and green apple, vanilla and lemon peel. Slowly some spicy ginger and some floral notes.
Finish: The finish is quite long. I taste caramel, malt biscuits, some oak notes, a hint of spice, vanilla and some milky ovaltine on the finish.
Vote*: 7 very good stuff. If you are looking for an attention-grabbing dram, the Aultmore 12 might not be your cup of tea, but if enjoy clean, well-made and elegant whiskies, this definitely hits the spot.
* Votes are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Conclusions
Sometimes it is hard to understand why certain whiskies get all the hype, while others, just as good in quality, remain relegated to an insider tip. After this review, this is how I feel about Aultmore 12 and Glencadam 10. Glencadam 10 is, deservedly, one of the whisky online community darlings. Aultmore, instead, fails to grab the headlines and is, in my opinion, seriously underappreciated. Both fall into that light, clean yet “not as simple as you would think” category. I enjoy both equally.
So why is Aultmore ignored? Bacardi is certainly not putting any great effort into marketing the brand. The website is one of the saddest ones I have seen. I would certainly prefer to have Bcardi focus more on Aultmore and Royal Brackla than the ubiquitous but bland Aberfeldy.
The other reason might be one of availability. Since the distillery’s focus is on providing spirit for blends, there might be some priorities that have reduced the volume of Aultmore being released. There have even been rumours of the Aultmore 12 being discontinued, though the whisky is still available on the Dewar’s online shop and in some shops from the EU. I secretly hope Bacardi might be preparing for a relaunch of this brand, but I am not holding my breath.
Be as it may, I will hold on to my bottle and pace my consumption, while at the same time keeping an eye out for some bourbon-cask aged Indipendent bottlings of Aultmore.
I always find it interesting, after writing my tasting notes, to look at other opinions.
Here are a few other reviews of the Altmore 12 year old I enjoyed:
Malt review (12, 21 and 25 year old Aultomre side by side)
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