Allt-a-Bhainne 14 Years Old 1993 (James MacArthur)

Distilled in 1993 and bottled by James MacArthur in 2007, this is a 14 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 53.7% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The release is one of just 90 bottles, a small run from the long established independent bottler James MacArthur, active since the early 1980s and one of the more low key players in the indie scene.

Allt-a-Bhainne ferments malted barley for 48 to 50 hours on Mauri liquid yeast in closed stainless steel washbacks, then double distills through two copper wash stills and two copper spirit stills with steam heating and shell and tube condensers. The short Speyside ferment produces a clean malt forward spirit built as a blend filler for Chivas Regal, Passport and 100 Pipers. New make is reduced with Rowantree Burn water and tankered to Keith for cask filling and maturation, since the distillery holds no warehousing on site.

Ex Bourbon American oak frames cask contribution on vanillin and oak lactones from the toasted and charred staves, with Maillard chemistry from hemicellulose oak sugars driving honey and vanilla. The clean American oak palette suits Allt-a-Bhainne's lighter blend filler spirit. Fourteen years in ex Bourbon develops the cask contribution into the secondary phase, with vanillin and oak lactones joined by extended Maillard reaction products from hemicellulose oak sugar contact.