Glenallachie Single Cask for UK – Batch 2 13 Years Old 2006

This official GlenAllachie, a 13 year old, from 2006, cask 6580, at 60.1%, 323 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt from the hills above Aberlour, below Ben Rinnes. 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.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for the rich, sherried make GlenAllachie is known for. It was matured in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood working deep into the malt. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. 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. Maturation runs slow and even in the on site dunnage warehouses at Aberlour.

At 60.1%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a rich, sherried Speyside single malt.