Allt-a-Bhainne 26 Years Old (That Boutique-y Whisky Company)

Bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company in 2019 as a 26 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 50.3% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The release is one of 420 bottles in the TBWC batch programme, with the brand's signature illustrated label highlighting another lesser known Speyside distillery for the company's enthusiast audience.

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 six years of ex Bourbon maturation in the Keith warehouses develops the cask contribution into deep maturity, with Maillard chemistry, oak lactones and the slower oxidative changes of long matured malt all settled into a fully integrated profile.