Glenallachie Single Cask 13 Years Old 2008 (Cask 6896)

This official GlenAllachie, a 13 year old, from 2008, cask 6896, at 58.3%, 252 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, long a blending malt and now a sherry led name in its own right. It was designed almost entirely gravity fed, an efficient plant for its time. It runs unusually long fermentations, up to a hundred and sixty hours, for a thick, ester rich and fruity spirit. It was built for the 1960s blend boom, its make long destined for the blender's vat.

It was distilled in copper pot stills, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At a hearty 58.3% it carries real weight. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is the sherry led malt of Aberlour.