Into Battle: Can Aberlour A’Bunadh claim Best in Speyside two years running?

Aberlour A’Bunadh is marching into the Spirit of Speyside as reigning champion, judged best overall in 2024 among Speyside’s 50+ distilleries.

It’s no small honour to take that title from under the noses of some of the biggest whisky-makers in the world, but Aberlour Distillery is no stranger to excellence. It’s been operating at the heart of Speyside for over 150 years, and some say that as sherry bombs go, it’s the origin of the species. 

The A’Bunadh series, with over 80 batches to date, started life 28 years ago as a creative experiment in small-scale, full oloroso sherry maturation.

At the time, its makers attest, it was an outlier – not only all-sherry matured but cask strength, first-fill and small-batch also. These terms are common currency today but were rare and experimental in the mid-1990s. Aberlour used them to build a revolution and to celebrate the Aberlour brand.

Sherry is at the bedrock of the distillery’s output, marrying the finest ex-bourbon and sherry casks throughout most of its collection, particularly in the distillery’s Double Cask Matured series (pictured above). This is a superb core lineup of 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-year-old single malts.

Have you tried the Best of Speyside yet? Click below to explore Aberlour’s flavour profile.