Allt-a-Bhainne 27 Years Old 1995 Cask #166299 (Milroy’s of Soho)

Distilled in 1995 and bottled by Milroy's of Soho in 2023 from single ex Bourbon cask #166299 under the Vintage Reserve imprint, this is a 27 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 52.6% ABV. Milroy's of Soho is the historic London whisky retailer, trading since 1964 and one of the longest established specialist whisky shops in the UK, with a long running independent bottling programme.

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. At twenty seven years the cask interaction sits firmly in deep maturity, with the slow Maillard chemistry of toasted oak sugars now providing the dominant character architecture and the underlying distillate fully integrated.