Billy Walker purchased The Glenallachie back in 2017, and in 2018 the new line up was released to the market and I reviewed it back then with the 12 Year Old coming on top but just barely ahead of the 1st edition of the 10 Year Old Cask Strength.

My complaint back then was that the minerality is a tad too dominant, and it seems like there was more feedback like that as the formula was tweaked with more sherry casks and more active casks to further balance the minerality. In addition, the color of the next editions got darker and darker, maybe not only to balance the taste but to also appeal to dark-color whisky buyers – you know, the darker the more sherried it is and more people buying it.

Anyway, along the road, Glenallachie 10 Cask Strength went from strength to strength (and from color to darker color), leading to this Batch 5 which started a new casks formula for the whisky: PX, Oloroso, Virgin Oak, and Rioja Casks. This formula seems to be a real winner as it was repeated for Batch 6 & 7 (which is the latest released to the market). Shall we check it out?

Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 5 (55.9%)

Nose: A fruity bomb, layer of stone fruits with ripe peaches and apricots and on top of that another sherry/wine fruitiness with dried berries, fresh raspberries and strawberries and cranberries juice. Here comes the minerality but it’s less pronounced than the 1st edition, cinnamon, oak spices, caramel, milk chocolate and dark chocolate, medium roasted beans espresso, sweet oak, cinnamon paste, very fresh and lively. Continue reading →

in 2018 Glenallachie Distillery was reborn at the hands of Billy Walker. We’ve seen a new core line up and few waves of single casks released to different markets and countries.

Initially the line up announcement included five expressions: 10 Cask Strength, 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old, 18 Year Old and 25 Year Old. Out of those five, four were released in 2018 and we checked them out here:

• Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength
• Glenallachie 12 Year Old
• Glenallachie 18 Year Old
• Glenallachie 25 Year Old

But the Glenallachie 15 Year Old wasn’t released until last summer (August 2019) and now it’s time to check it out.

The Glenallachie 15 whisky was matured in PX and Oloroso Sherry Hogsheads and Puncheons and was bottled at 46% and of course without chill filtering or adding color.

Glenallachie 15 Year Old (46%, £59.95/€59.95)

Nose: The Sherry casks influence is here front and center with notes of chocolate. cinnamon, dried fruits (a lot of peaches and apricots) and generally rich fruitiness. Continue reading →

After checking out and reviewing the three more affordable expressions from the new GlenAllachie line up, it’s time to conclude our line up coverage with the new 25 Year Old.

Like with the 18 Year Old whisky we have a combo of PX sherry casks and american oak. 6000 bottles were produced and bottled at a bit higher ABV of 48% (comparing to the 46% used for the other three in the line up).

GlenAllachie 25 Year Old (48%, £230/€234.95)

Nose: Fruity, again the limestone note, hints of tropical and guava, caramel, butterscotch. A very fresh nose for a 25 Year Old Whisky. Pears and apricot, honey, gentle cinnamon and oak spice. Wt menthol freshness and slight note of semi dried plums and red berries Continue reading →

Continuing with the GlenAllachie line up review and today we’re up to the 18 Year Old. This time only two kind of casks were involved in creating this whisky: PX sherry casks and American Oak casks (which I assume is a code name for ex-Bourbon casks).

Since I liked the 12 Year Old a lot and the 10 Year Old isn’t too shabby, lets see if the trend continue with this older sibling.

GlenAllachie 18 Year Old (46%, £72.50/€89.90)

Nose: Very closed and restrained at first. After a few minutes we get the limestone again, citrus, mellower, gentle white pepper, pears and a touch of apricot, honey and a bit of vanilla, less fruity than the younger siblings. Continue reading →

Let’s get it going with the GlenAllachie core line up reviews. Last week we checked out the GlenAllachie 12 Year Old (which I liked a lot) and now it’s time to check it’s close sibling, the 10 Year Old Cask Strength.

The 10 Year Old also uses a mix of Oloroso, PX and Virgin Oak casks. 12,000 bottles were produced, bottled at a 100 proof of 57.1%.

GlenAllachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch #1 (57.1%, £56.95/€49.90)

Nose: Really not far away from the 12 year old. Fruity with pears and apricot, stronger bubble gum, limestone but not as a separate hard barrier but incorporated and ingrained, honey. After a few more minutes more fruits and orchard in springtime. Continue reading →

Until 2017 GlenAllachie distillery was a modern ‘boring distillery’ in the Chivas Brothers portfolio where 99.5% of the produced whisky going into blends (mainly Chivas Regal) and just a few casks here and there were bottled as single casks by independent bottlers.

But then came Billy Walker who sold BenRiach Distillers (owning BenRiach, Glendronach and Glenglassaugh distilleries) to Brown-Forman a year before, and the distillery immediately came into the limelight and everybody was curious to see what will Billy do with the distillery and the extensive stock maturing in the warehouses.

A few months ago it started with a wave of single casks and two months ago, GlenAllachie launched their core line up and we’ll cover it here, starting with the cornerstone of the line up and the probable best seller of the distillery – GlenAllachie 12 Year Old.

GlenAllachie 12 Year Old was matured in a combination of Pedro Ximénez, Oloroso and virgin oak casks and bottled at a great strength of 46%.

GlenAllachie 12 Year Old (46%, £40.95/€37.90)

Nose: Mellow maltiness, oranges, tangerine rind, honey, hardness below (rocks, stones and limestone), honey glazed pears. After a few minutes, fruit orchard, pears and apricot and some bubble gum. Then the sweet candies come along: pear drops and hard candies. Continue reading →