Allt-a-Bhainne 9 Years Old 2009 Port Finish (Best Dram)

Distilled in 2009 and bottled by Best Dram in 2018, this is a 9 Years Old Allt-a-Bhainne at 59.2% ABV finished in Port casks. The release is one of just 72 bottles, a very small single cask run from the German independent bottler Best Dram, known for picking unusual finishes and bottling at cask strength.

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.

Port casks contribute red fruit character from residual anthocyanin pigments and fortified wine compounds left in the wood, particularly the dried strawberry, plum and raisin register that distinguishes Port from sherry, with a slight tannic edge framing the lighter spirit. At nine years the underlying maturation is still in its primary extract phase, so the Port finish takes a more assertive role in the eventual profile, layering fortified wine character over the lighter blend style spirit. Cask strength bottling preserves volatile compounds that lower strength bottling would lose to dilution.