Aldi Irish Reserve – 26 Year Old Single Malt

Like most people with a passing interest in whiskey, I had one thing on my to-do list for Tuesday 14^th November. Get to an Aldi with forty pounds and exchange them all in return for a bottle of whiskey and a shiny penny.

With so many comments and reviews, the Aldi special releases have become one of the more important times for whiskey drinkers. This is in no small part down to the cost. Rather than courting the investor market or becoming engaged in an arms-race with auction sites, I assume Aldi set the price as low as they can whilst striking a balance between profit and the depth of the pocket of their average costumer.

In a week when Macallan announced a limited released of a 15 year old whisky for £495, it’s not really a surprise that more people are interested in a whiskey that (whilst age isn’t everything) is 11 years the Macallan’s senior and could be bought 12 times over for the cost of one bottle of scotch.

Despite the frantic build-up with bottles appearing on shelves before the allotted release date and ironically parts of Ireland not receiving stock on time, it was a normal Tuesday morning in Buxton when I visited Aldi and competed my purchase.

Aldi 26 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey – 40% – £39.99 (presumably chill-filtered and with colouring)

Nose – so fresh and fruity. There’s pineapple, mango, melon and pear. Apricot appears as well. A lot of vanilla quickly joins in too and I can’t help but be reminded of a tinned fruit cocktail with melted vanilla ice cream mixing with the sweet syrup. There are also hints of gooseberry and raspberry jam. Woody elements are present within sawdust and sandalwood. 7.5

With plenty of Irish whiskey presented without clues to where it was distilled, it can be hard to know what could be used as a reference point for this Irish Reserve. However, I can be sure I’ve tried Bushmills and this does bear more than a passing resemblance to both the 16 and 21 year olds, though without the extra cask influence that those expressions have.

Palate – the fruit cocktail carries through well and the arrival is initially sweet and pleasant. I found it beneficial to take small sips otherwise the oak comes in too heavy and masks everything else with a bitter flavour. Overall, there’s not much development between nose and palate, but when the flavours are so enjoyable, it’s not a bad thing. 7

Finish – the oak wins out here, quite tannic. Almost morphs into a rich dark chocolate. 5

Total Score: 19.5 / 30

It’s hard to analyse this 26 year old whiskey and not get wrapped up in the price. Putting that aside, I found Aldi Irish Reserve to be a very tasty whiskey. Given the assumed distillery of origin, it fits nicely within the Bushmills range between the 10 and 16.

Whilst I was pondering the price and the hard economics of the whiskey industry I came across this article which goes into more detail on low price whiskey, if you allow for the store being American. However Aldi came across the casks of whiskey that lead to the Irish Reserve, I’m certainly glad they did.