Glenallachie 10 Years Old Cask #Batch 5

GlenAllachie from the distillery, a 10 year old, cask Batch 5, at 55.9%, 27000 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, the home distillery of master distiller Billy Walker. It was mothballed in 1985 and reopened in 1989, a modern distillery by Speyside standards. Its water is the Lochnagar Burn, drawn down from the slopes of Ben Rinnes.

Distilled in copper pot stills, for a full make built to take active wood. It was matured in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood working deep into the malt. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

At its natural 55.9% it is rich and chewy. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.