Aberargie Inaugural
First Official Release | 48.2% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
A promising start from the latest farm-to-bottle distillery
Under the Influence
I’m quite thankful I’ve never created, invented, or produced any intellectual property or commodity that had to be released to the public in the modern era.
The closest I’ve come is a series of EP’s and demo recordings my band made twenty years ago. All “hype” had to be built organically. Strong live shows, a grinding tour schedule, word-of-mouth, tons of partying with folks after a performance and building buzz (the fun part…).
As with everything, there was a lot of luck involved. We were always trying to play for the “right” people, hoping some scene king or queen would be at the show, have fun, and bless our humble band to their large friend group or be “seen” having a blast in the crowd. We spent a fair amount of time attempting to befriend those folks – every city had them – the original cool kids and gatekeepers of the pre-social media age.
Everything changed in 2004. That’s when Myspace went from a small corner of the internet to cultural and global domination. I was in my early 20’s and was our band “manager”, so naturally I logged on to Myspace multiple times a day. Back when “going on the computer” was something we took time out of our day to do and wasn’t just a permanent extension of our daily lives. If some kind soul let us crash at their house there was the inevitable question: “mind if we use your computer?”
Hang out on AOL Instant Messenger, log into myspace, read emails.
The internet golden age.
Myspace revolutionized how bands promoted themselves. The “profile pic” became all important. Songs could be uploaded and streamed or downloaded for free through the website. Direct access between fan and band. A pioneering concept.
Dozens of bands or artists that had never played a single show but knew how to manipulate this new platform were suddenly overnight successes with their glamor shot photos, perfect haircuts, and well-designed HTML-coded Myspace pages. Audio recording technology also met the moment with cheap software products replacing the giant studio set ups. These fly-by-night groups could create a professional recording for a fraction of the cost of their forebears.
The scene kings and queens were also given a perch within the burgeoning social media sphere. Now with a global audience for their opinions, passing judgment on the latest trends, bands, or songs from the safety of their keyboard, their “friend” group now grown by the thousands. The original influencers.
We did our best to succeed in this new era. Uploaded our songs, replied to every message, put up cool photos where we frowned, arms folded, indifferent glances perfectly askance from the camera – lame attempts to look badass for our profile pic. But it wasn’t meant to be. Mostly due to internal strife and burnout, we went our separate ways.
It was a long time ago but was truly the last time I tried to create something and market it to the world.
In the Dunlop day job, I still produce, but the deliverables are now client driven. Usually, an audience of one or two who thumbs-up or thumbs-down my attempts to meet their criteria and satisfy project scope. No influencers or fans to impress. A dry process.
The bulk of my job is copywriting and other written communications. Although I appreciate the work and I’m fortunate enough to own my business, the humdrum routine of daily copy production, along with a newfound discovery of amateur photography, pushed me toward exploring creative writing and sharing my passion online, albeit anonymously.
I quickly met other whisky enthusiasts from around the world and of course followed as many accounts as possible to explore this weird-but-fun alcove of the internet.
Being plugged into the daily feed of my whisky Instagram, I soon found familiar patterns forming from the bygone era of my musician days, especially around the time of new releases. It seemed certain accounts, those with the most followers of course, would coincidentally have the same bottle, notes, and descriptions crop up at the same time – as well as that tiny addendum at the end of each post:
//gifted
Ah! A tale as old as time.
Since the days of antiquity when Belteshazzar Chariots brought in that newest model and asked the prominent son of a Babylonian aristocrat to be “seen” riding it through the city square, companies have sought the endorsements of the famous and well-connected to peddle their wares.
So, a few weeks ago, it was no fluke when a certain bottle now under discussion began manifesting itself with aplomb across the Dunlop Instagram. The distillery’s decision to wait nearly eight years to release was uniformly described as “brave.” The whisky itself was given high praise. Post after post. For a moment in time, we in the Whiskyverse were all just denizens in the world of Aberargie.
Hats off to their marketing team. As I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve never had to release anything in the modern era and I’m thankful for that. Maneuvering the ever-shifting landscape of taste, cutting through the clutter of a noisy world, standing out amid a very crowded space, landing among an audience of enthusiasts beleaguered by release after release from distilleries and indies alike - an intimidating task.
Despite the outpouring of effusive praise from influencers, this release would be one I sought out regardless. In my brief sojourn here within the whisky world, I’ve very much enjoyed exploring the range of new distilleries, especially as there are so many gems to be found among the “newborns.” The “Ardna’s” of -hoe and -murchan, Isle of Raasay, Lagg, InchDairnie, Ballindalloch, Annandale, Torabhaig, Clydeside, Glasgow… the Dunlop whisky closet overflows with recent releases and I take pleasure in exploring up-and-coming whisky producers.
Plus, there’s something romantic to me about the whole “farm-to-glass” motif, even if most of it is just PR. Among those just listed, some of them, including others like Lochlea, Daftmill, and even Kilchoman all embrace the family farm “barley-to-bottle” standard.
For now, let’s just agree it’s terrific that this craft movement has been embraced by producers and enthusiasts alike.
So, with an attitude toward both scrutinization (for the Dramface crew) and potential personal gratification, I braved my preferred online retailers and secured a bottle before it sold out. Which it did, quite quickly – again, hats off to the marketing team.
There won’t be a //gifted at the end of this, but will the reader be influenced?
Review
Aberargie Inaugural, single malt Scotch, 52% Golden Promise & 48% Laureate Barley. Matured in 50% first-fill bourbon and 50% first-fill sherry casks, NCF, natural colour, 48.2% ABV
US$75 (£60) paid & still some availability
I’d originally planned to take this bottle on a hike with me as a part 2 to my Southern California wildflowers exploration, but my partner injured herself playing softball, so Nurse Archie has been on call. The hike was cancelled, but in between errands and doting on my poor patient, some local photos were secured and some quality time finally spent with this release.
Aberargie is a small-ish new distillery that’s owned by the Morrison family, who boasts five generations of whisky production and previously owned Islay heavyweight Bowmore, and started Aberargie in 2017 on their 300-acre barley farm.
Recently, they’ve been more known for Independent Bottling under the brands Carn Mor, Mac-Talla, and Old Perth, and for keeping beehives on the farm, from which they also produce a honey liqueur scotch whisky blend called Bruadar.
There’s no age statement on this bottle, but everything online points to the whisky being around 7 – 8 years matured, especially if it contains whisky from the first casks laid down in 2017. This puts it on the tail end for an “inaugural” release compared to other toddler distilleries itching to bring their products to market.
The specs on this release are an enthusiast's dream. Farm-grown barley, distillation and maturation all done on site. Small batch release. Natural presentation, non-chill filtered. According to the distillery, the whisky is made with 52% Golden Promise and 48% Laureate barley. Everything except malting is done on Morrison Family Farm in Perthshire, which literally straddles the line between the “Highland” and “Lowland” Region.
Score: 6/10
Good Stuff.
TL;DR
A promising start from the latest farm-to-bottle distillery
Nose
Pleasant. Baked apple pie. Honey granola. Raisin bread. Puff pastry. Wheat toast. Maple brown sugar oatmeal. Some dusty sherry notes coming through. Krispy Kreme donuts. Buttermilk. Churros. Enjoyable nose if not a touch basic.
There’s some slight sharpness despite being under 50% ABV. Water brings fresh apples, Fruity Pebbles cereal and shredded wheat. Toaster strudel. Flour and dough-ey notes, new oak, blackberry jam, jelly fruits, and graham crackers. The distillery character comes through in the malty-cereal notes, but it does seem a little cask driven to me. The sharpness lingers even with a little water, but it does take water well and I prefer a little of it to help open this up.
Palate
Initially I really like this palate. It feels creamy and malty upon arrival. Good mouthfeel up front and coating. Juicy. Lots of apples. Apple granola bars. Applesauce. Apple butter biscuits. Then creamy strawberry smoothie. Snickerdoodle cookies.
Water adds some grape juiciness, more cereal maltiness, and red apple slices without tamping the creaminess. Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts. Quite quaffable. There are pepper and cinnamon spices on the finish along with a toasted note. The palate drops off a little and it doesn’t quite linger enough to take it to the next level, but this is still solid, good whisky. I like this.
The Dregs
Welcome back Morrison Family! I’ve spent quite a bit of time with this bottle over the past couple weeks and it solidly sits in the “good stuff” category. A “new” distillery with promise, and a helluva marketing team that created true hype around this release. Despite some obnoxious saturation in the influencer-space pending arrival, the genuine care and “farm-to-bottle” ethos is on display.
I was happy to see a price below $80, and the distillery is being applauded for making their inaugural release accessible. Hopefully, as their stock matures and higher-age stated whiskies are released, they continue this trend and treat their consumers with care.
My only gripes are on display in the notes. A little sharpness that doesn’t detract but is still noticeable, some cask-smothering of the spirit, and a dram that is overall pleasant and enjoyable, if somewhat ordinary. Nothing stands out and it would be hard to detect this blind among others with similar cask profiles as there wasn’t a base note I hooked on to or something in the way of distillery character.
There are some lovely cereal and creamy malty notes here and I’d love to see the spirit in some less active wood as it matures and explore more of the distillery character further. It’s good. A front-of-the-shelf daily sipper for when I’m in the mood for something simple and conventional.
I don’t always need to think about my whisky, sometimes I just want to sip and savor.
//not gifted.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AD
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What’s your own personal top distilleries?
At the point of this article’s publication, Aberargie doesn’t yet rank in the Dramface Top 40.
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