Glenallachie Single Cask 12 Years Old 2008 (Cask 1851)

A 12 year old GlenAllachie, a distillery bottling, from 2008, cask 1851, at 57.1%, 308 bottles in all. 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 water is the Lochnagar Burn, drawn down from the slopes of Ben Rinnes. It was built for the 1960s blend boom, its make long destined for the blender's vat.

Drawn from a thick, full bodied wash, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. Maturation came in a Marsala cask, layered over the full GlenAllachie make. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. Active first fill wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At a natural 57.1% it is full and rich. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, with a raisined, herbal sweetness from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and chocolate.