Aberlour 10 y/o Age estimate & legitimacy?

[JackDram]

Hi all,

I recently bought a Aberlour 10 Year Old from auction but wondered if anyone was able to estimate its bottling year judging by the bottling label/box?

There's no visible matrix on the back apart from a few very faint dots. It had a small amount of residue in the bottom of the bottle and the bubbles are dissapearing at a rate consistent with 40% ABV.

The 'Glenlivet' label is what drew me to find out its rough age or import/export location?

The box does have a different barcode to the bottle. I recognise the bottle's barcode as an Aberlour 10 but couldn't recognise the box barcode, is this something to be concerned about or is it common to find this?

Many thanks,
Jack

IMG_4276 by Jack Pierce, on Flickr

IMG_4275 by Jack Pierce, on Flickr

IMG_4277 by Jack Pierce, on Flickr

IMG_4278 by Jack Pierce, on Flickr

[Marti]

That style and bottle was around for the Aberlour 10 for quite a number of years, in fact I believe they still bottled the 10 in this bottle long after they moved the rest of the range to the shorter dumpier bottle. I am sure these were around 10 years ago maybe more.

[Uncle Bobby]

The label in question first appeared around 1994/1995.
Around 1999 a new label was introduced.
Source; Michael Jackson's Malt Whisky Companions.
Hope this helps.

[JackDram]

Thank you! i’ve just ordered that book, seems like it could be useful!!
_________________
Jack

[Alastair]

It was 2010 when they brought in the dumpier Aberlour A’bunadh style bottle across the Aberlour range, but they continued to bottle the 10 year old in the style of bottle shown, this style and tube was used for a lot of years for the 10 year old, they slightly altered the labels a few times over the years. The bottle and tube shown dates back to the 1990's from what i recall.

[JackDram]

Yes, I’ve had a few Aberlour 10’s with the later style of label, but hadn’t had one like this Is is the different barcode on the box something to be concerned about or not?

Thank you!
_________________
Jack

[Uncle Bobby]

JackDram
You can pick up older editions on eBay. Great for dating bottles.

[Mark]

I would normally expect the barcode on the bottle and box/tube to be the same but i believe sometimes when the box/tube style or bottle labeling changes there may be a cross over . For example they may have excess tubes in the old style which they pair with the bottle with the new label. This may be the case here.

There are some examples here https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/all/?q=aberlour+10+year+old&search=a

such as:

https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/67-the-36th-auction/33850-aberlour-10-year-old/

https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/109-the-71st-auction/135436-aberlour-10-year-old/

[JackDram]

[Uncle Bobby]