Glenallachie Single Cask 12 Years Old 2008 (Cask 6078)

A 12 year old GlenAllachie, a distillery bottling, from 2008, cask 6078, at 55.4%, 306 bottles in all. GlenAllachie is a Speyside single malt, revived in 2017 by the team of Billy Walker. It runs unusually long fermentations, up to a hundred and sixty hours, for a thick, ester rich and fruity spirit. It was founded in 1967, designed by the architect William Delme Evans, his fourth distillery after Jura and Tullibardine.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending a creamy vanilla. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.4%, it is deep and concentrated. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, over a gentle, creamy oak. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a rich, sherried Speyside single malt.