A'bunadh is a cask-strength single malt whisky

Whisky

Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...

 from the Aberlour Distillery

Aberlour Distillery

Aberlour is a distillery of single malt Scotch whisky, located on Aberlour town, Speyside, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Lour and Spey near Ben Rinnes. The Speyside region is the most prolific whisky producing region in Scotland, accounting for over half of all of Scotland's distilleries...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Though it has no age statement, it is released in limited run batches, each batch carrying a unique number on its label. Each batch of this whisky is blended from barrels ranging from 5 to 25 years old.

A'bunadh is exclusively aged in Spanish oak Oloroso

Oloroso

Oloroso is a variety of sherry produced by oxidative aging. It is normally darker than amontillado and has a higher glycerine content, which makes it smoother and less dry. Oloroso is usually dark and nutty....

 sherry

Sherry

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....

 butts and therefore has a sweeter, softer flavor than most scotch. Some distilleries, most notably Macallan also age their whisky in sherry casks. At one time, sherry casks were universally used for maturing scotch whisky.

Rumour has it that when the second pair of stills were put in in 1975, a time capsule was discovered behind the name plate, containing an 1898 newspaper about the distillery fire wrapped around an 1898 bottle of Aberlour. The workmen who discovered the bottle polished off four fifths of the bottle during their lunch break, but the remains of the bottle went off to the laboratories in Keith

Keith, Moray

Keith is a small town in the Moray council area in north east Scotland. It has a population of around 4,500....

, and were analysed. A'bunadh is an attempt to recreate this single malt.

Almost all scotch whisky is chill filtered

Chill filtering

Chill filtering is a method in whisky making for removing residue. In chill filtering, whisky is cooled to between -10 and 4 degrees Celsius and passed through a fine adsorption filter...

, a process in which the aged spirit

Distilled beverage

A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...

 is cooled before filtering. A'bunadh is not chill filtered.

The word a'bunadh is roughly translated into English from Scottish Gaelic as "original."

Released batch numbers

Batch number	Alcoholic strength	Approximate year
1–5	59.6%	1997
6	59.9%	1999
Silver Label (12yo)	58.7%	1999
7	59.9%	2000
8	60.2%	2001
9	60%	2002
10	59.8%	2003
11	59.8%	2003
12	60%	2004
13	59.8%	2004
14	59.5%	2005
15	59.6%	2005
16	59.6%	2005
17	60.2%	2006
18	59.7%	2006
19	59.9%	2007
20	60.5%	2007
21	59.5%	2008
22	59.3%	2008
23	60.2%	2008
24	60.2%	2008
25	60.4%	2008
26	60.6%	2009
27	60.1%	2009
28	59.7%	2009
29	59.9%	2010
30	59.8%	2010
31	60.5%	2010
32	60.4%	2010
33	60.9%	2010
34	59.5%	2010
35	60.3%	2011
36	60.1%	2011
37	59.6%	2011

The taste of the individual batches can vary significantly. Batch 15 had a distinct caramel note, batch 17 a dark chocolate note.

The availability of the various batches can vary according to their popularity and time on the market. As of July 2011 only batches 32, 33 and 34 could be found easily, with most of the earlier batches having been depleted from normal sales channels.

The "rum-raisin" finish that strongly characterized batches 10–12 is still faintly perceptible in the 15–16th batches, yet completely non-existent by batch 20.