Glenallachie 9 Years Old 2011 Cask #3029849 (Duncan Taylor)

This GlenAllachie was bottled by Duncan Taylor, a 9 year old, distilled in 2011, from cask 3029849, at 55.9%, one of the festival bottlings. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, founded in 1967 below Ben Rinnes near Aberlour. It was built for the 1960s blend boom, its make long destined for the blender's vat. It was mothballed in 1985 and reopened in 1989, a modern distillery by Speyside standards.

It was distilled in copper pot stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. A bourbon barrel held it, the wood adding a soft honey over the fruit. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin as vanilla and lactones as coconut over orchard fruit and a dark sugar. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. Active first fill wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At a hearty 55.9% it carries real weight. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, over a gentle, creamy oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is GlenAllachie's deep, fruity Speyside style.