Glenallachie 5 Year Old 2012

The distillery was built in 1967 and for decades produced exclusively for the blenders. Only in 2005 was it launched as a single malt! But in 2017 the distillery was taken over by Billy Walker (who had just sold BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh) and rechristened it GlenAllachie. Billy and his team are working very hard to put this malt on the map, but I will be trying a 5 years old from A.D. Rattray. Indeed, a very young expressions, drawn from a first fill sherry butt. It shows both in color and ABV.

The nose is dark and sweet on raisins, butterscotch, plum liqueur, top notch espresso, blueberries and chocolate with praline filling. In all honesty, I hardly recognize any of the distillery character. Do I mind? If it’s this good, I could care less. This is delicious!

I thought I would scorch my tongue with such a blistering ABV, but it is not the case. Surprisingly well integrated, for this is quite quaffable without water. Obviously it is still quite piquant. Again dark and sweet notes, but a tad less fruity and sweet than expected and quite herbal instead. Nevertheless, a fine dram.

The finish last forever, however nothing new is to be discovered.

This was only my tenth encounter with this distillery (and the youngest expression so far), but what a belter! Mostly due to a very active cask, that goes without saying.

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