Glenallachie Single Cask for Europe – Batch 4 11 Years Old 2009

An 11 year old GlenAllachie, a distillery bottling, from 2009, cask 1054, at 60.2%, 266 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, the home distillery of master distiller Billy Walker. It was mothballed in 1985 and reopened in 1989, a modern distillery by Speyside standards. It was designed almost entirely gravity fed, an efficient plant for its time.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the full character to the fore. 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 wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

At a hearty 60.2% it carries real weight. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, over a gentle, creamy oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a rich, sherried Speyside single malt.