Allt-a-Bhainne 9 Years Old 2008 (The Whisky Cask)

Distilled in 2008 and bottled by The Whisky Cask in 2017, this is a 9 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 53.7% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The release was bottled at natural cask strength. The Whisky Cask is a German independent bottler with a focus on single cask releases bottled at natural strength without chill filtration or added colour.

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. Nine years of cask interaction develops the ex Bourbon contribution well into its established extract phase, with vanillin and oak lactones forward alongside building Maillard products. Cask strength bottling preserves volatile compounds that lower strength bottling would lose to dilution.