GlenAllachie Single Cask for IWS

There are lots of little whisky shops around the country, whose business has been affected by recent events, some have mail order businesses to keep them going so please support them as much as you can. One thing that some of the distilleries are doing is to bottle single casks exclusively for a shop - this is one such example.

GlenAllachie have bottled a 2007 12yo exclusively for the Inverurie Whisky Shop.

The Inverurie Whisky Shop can be found in the town of Inverurie, just off the A96, on the way from Aberdeen towards Speyside.

For the last five years Mike Stuart has built up a great little business selling whisky and other spirits as well as leading public and private tastings.

Glenallachie Distillery was built in 1967 by MacKinley McPherson (the distilling arm of Scottish and Newcastle) going through a few owners until eventually being owned by Pernod Ricard. It was used mainly in blends for Chivas Brothers.

GlenAllachie (now with the capital A) was bought by Billy Walker, Trisha Savage and Graham Stevenson in October 2017 along with 16 warehouses holding nearly 50,000 maturing casks, some of these dating back to the 1970s. As well as releasing a number of age statemented bottles and blends some of this stock is beginning to be released as single casks.

Distillery notes: Drawn from a Single Oloroso Puncheon, it has a natural cask strength ABV of 60.3% and an outrun of a little over 700 bottles. 

Nose: Treacle, vanilla, figs, orange zest and cinnamon. 

Palate: Lashings of raisins, treacle, figs and dark chocolate Fused with orange zest and cloves

 

Shop notes: This very special whisky has been matured for nigh on 13 years at the GlenAllachie's Speyside Distillery where the final stages of it's coming of age were overseen by Billy Walker and the cask was selected by the Inverurie Whisky Shop owner, Mike Stuart. 

Nose: Dates soaked in brown sugar, toffee, cinnamon and Christmas spices.  

Palate: Honey, dark chocolate, sticky toffee pudding and toffee Bonbons, Christmas fruit cake with vanilla and cinnamon ice cream.

My thoughts:

Appearance: Dark bronze in the glass - we're in sherry bomb territory here. Swirls cling to the glass as a hairline crack, forms beads and fall as slow thin legs.

 

Nose: Musty bookshop, old leather, dried fruit and a spicy bite from the high ABV. This needs a little time and a little air before it offers up treacle toffee, dark cherries, orange(?) and a little smoke or char.

Palate: Thick treacle-y arrival, huge oak spices and a bitter dark chocolate note. More of the orange, a little almond, vanilla and cinnamon notes before leaving a dry burnt note on the tongue. None of the strawberry jam notes I normally associate with oloroso.

Finish: Long lingering spicy dryness with a little oaky vanilla.

Thoughts: The whisky spent most of its life in an ex-bourbon cask before being finished for a undisclosed period of time in an Oloroso Puncheon. The sherry influence is there, but a sherry bomb?  The nose - musty leather notes, dried fruit and bitter chocolate shout yes but the palate is a little less sure - orange, nut and vanilla. Maybe not long enough in the puncheon?

 

Many thanks to Mike for the sample, you can buy a bottle for £95 from here.