Glenallachie Single Cask 9 Years Old 2015

GlenAllachie from the distillery, a 9 year old, from 2015, cask 2004, at 62.2%, a festival bottling. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt known for its heavy sherry and wine cask maturation. It was designed almost entirely gravity fed, an efficient plant for its time. Its stills were doubled from two to four within months of opening, the lyne arms angled down for a fuller spirit.

Distilled in copper pot stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. Maturation came in an Oloroso cask, layered over the full GlenAllachie make. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin and toasted sugars over the full, fruity spirit. The casks are picked closely, the wood matched to the rich GlenAllachie make. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Active first fill wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At a hearty 62.2% it carries real weight. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.