Glenallachie 21 Years Old Cask #Batch 4

A distillery release of GlenAllachie, a 21 year old, cask Batch 4, at 51.1%, 2000 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, long a blending malt and now a sherry led name in its own right. It was mothballed in 1985 and reopened in 1989, a modern distillery by Speyside standards. It was designed almost entirely gravity fed, an efficient plant for its time.

Distilled to a full, generous cut, for a full make built to take active wood. It was matured in a Pedro Ximenez cask, the wood working deep into the malt. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. Maturation runs slow and even in the on site dunnage warehouses at Aberlour. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

Bottled at a cask strength 51.1%, it is deep and concentrated. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.