Allt-a-Bhainne 22 Years Old 1992 (Cadenhead’s Small Batch)

Distilled in 1992 and bottled by William Cadenhead in 2015 under the Small Batch imprint, this is a 22 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 52.5% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The release is one of 348 bottles, drawn from a small parcel of sister casks rather than a single cask in line with the Small Batch programme.

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. Twenty two years of cask interaction settles the ex Bourbon contribution into deep maturity, with the lighter spirit character now well integrated with the developed vanillin, oak lactone and Maillard product profile of the wood. The cleaner light Allt-a-Bhainne new make lets older cask interaction dominate, which suits the indie bottling tradition around the distillery.