Allt-a-Bhainne 32 Years Old 1977 Cask #13765 (Ian Macleod)

Distilled in 1977 and bottled by Ian Macleod in 2010 from single ex Bourbon cask #13765, this is a 32 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 57.2% ABV. The release carries the MacLeod's Extremely Rare imprint and stands as one of the oldest commercial bottlings of the distillery on record, with 558 bottles filled from this single cask. Ian Macleod is a Scottish independent bottling and distilling family business, owners of Glengoyne and Tamdhu among others.

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.