Glenallachie 9 Years Old 2011 Cask #3028849 (Duncan Taylor)

This GlenAllachie was bottled by Duncan Taylor, a 9 year old, distilled in 2011, from cask 3028849, at 54.3%, one of the festival bottlings. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, long a blending malt and now a sherry led name in its own right. It matures its spirit in sixteen dunnage warehouses on the distillery site at Aberlour. Its stills were doubled from two to four within months of opening, the lyne arms angled down for a fuller spirit.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a thick, ester rich spirit the casks then deepen. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending a creamy vanilla. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit rich, fruity and full. Active first fill wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At 54.3%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.