Allt-a-Bhainne 23 Years Old 1993 Fighting Fish (Jack Wiebers)

Distilled in 1993 and bottled by Jack Wiebers Whisky World in 2016 under the Fighting Fish imprint, this is a 23 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 54.1% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The release is one of 132 bottles from the bottler's Fighting Fish themed series, one of the more distinctive themed label runs in the German indie scene.

Allt-a-Bhainne ferments malted barley for 48 to 50 hours on Mauri liquid yeast in closed stainless steel washbacks, then double distills through two copper wash stills and two copper spirit stills with steam heating and shell and tube condensers. The short Speyside ferment produces a clean malt forward spirit built as a blend filler for Chivas Regal, Passport and 100 Pipers. New make is reduced with Rowantree Burn water and tankered to Keith for cask filling and maturation, since the distillery holds no warehousing on site.

Ex Bourbon American oak frames cask contribution on vanillin and oak lactones from the toasted and charred staves, with Maillard chemistry from hemicellulose oak sugars driving honey and vanilla. The clean American oak palette suits Allt-a-Bhainne's lighter blend filler spirit. Twenty three years of dunnage maturation in Keith extends the ex Bourbon contribution into deep maturity territory, with developed Maillard chemistry and integrated oak lactone signature joined by the slower oxidative changes that long matured spirit takes on.