Glenallachie Single Cask 12 Years Old 2010 (Cask 4555)

A 12 year old GlenAllachie, a distillery bottling, from 2010, cask 4555, at 60.1%, released for a whisky festival. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt known for its heavy sherry and wine cask maturation. 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.

It was drawn from a thick, full bodied wash, for a thick, ester rich spirit the casks then deepen. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At its natural 60.1% it is rich and chewy. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and chocolate.