This single cask bottling of an 18-year-old Aberlour by Hammersmiths in Zorge (Elsburn) was bottled under the Old Blacksmiths Single Malt label. The whisky was distilled in 1993, matured in a refill sherry Hogshead and was bottled in 2012.
The present distillery was founded in 1879 by James Fleming and had to be rebuilt in 1898 after a devastating fire. But there had already been a distillery a mile away under the name Aberlour (mouth of the Lour) since 1926. Situated at the foot of Ben Rinnes in Speyside, the whisky is mostly stored in ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks.
The Speyside lies in the north-east of the Highlands and is considered the centre of Scotland's whisky production. Around the towns of Elgin, Rothes, Keith and Dufftown there are more distilleries than anywhere else in Scotland, including big names such as Glenfarclas, Glenlivet, Macallan and many more.
Elegance and complexity are often cited as characteristic features of Speyside malts, but the variety of whiskies produced here is too great to speak of a single style.
Scotland and Scotch whisky is a global trend, a development that has led to a flourishing whisky scene in Scotland. There is hardly a week that goes by in which there is no news about another new distillery being built or the reopening of a distillery that has been closed for a long time.
Scotland, together with Ireland, is today considered the motherland of whisky, whose roots there go back to around 1500 AD.
This single cask bottling of an 18-year-old Aberlour by Hammersmiths in Zorge (Elsburn) was bottled under the Old Blacksmiths Single Malt label. The whisky was distilled in 1993, matured in a refill sherry Hogshead and was bottled in 2012.
The present distillery was founded in 1879 by James Fleming and had to be rebuilt in 1898 after a devastating fire. But there had already been a distillery a mile away under the name Aberlour (mouth of the Lour) since 1926. Situated at the foot of Ben Rinnes in Speyside, the whisky is mostly stored in ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks.
The Speyside lies in the north-east of the Highlands and is considered the centre of Scotland's whisky production. Around the towns of Elgin, Rothes, Keith and Dufftown there are more distilleries than anywhere else in Scotland, including big names such as Glenfarclas, Glenlivet, Macallan and many more.
Elegance and complexity are often cited as characteristic features of Speyside malts, but the variety of whiskies produced here is too great to speak of a single style.
Scotland and Scotch whisky is a global trend, a development that has led to a flourishing whisky scene in Scotland. There is hardly a week that goes by in which there is no news about another new distillery being built or the reopening of a distillery that has been closed for a long time.
Scotland, together with Ireland, is today considered the motherland of whisky, whose roots there go back to around 1500 AD.
