Glenallachie Single Cask 16 Years Old 2008

This official GlenAllachie, a 16 year old, from 2008, cask 6523, at 50.2%, a festival cask. 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 founded in 1967, designed by the architect William Delme Evans, his fourth distillery after Jura and Tullibardine.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, for the rich, sherried make GlenAllachie is known for. It was fully matured in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. The casks are picked closely, the wood matched to the rich GlenAllachie make.

At a hearty 50.2% it carries real weight. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.