Review by: The Muskox
This was dram #3 at the online Glenallachie tasting I attended last week, which featured special guest Billy Walker. Having just had the Grattamacco wine finish, we move on to a Rioja finish. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try the third in the series, which was a… checks notes …Sauternes finish?? Damnit! I can’t get enough Sauternes-matured whiskies.
Billy talked about one fascination of his for the moment: wood types. You may remember the virgin oak series of Glenallachie bottlings from a while back, which included whiskies matured in French, Spanish, and rare Chinkapin virgin oak casks. It looks like there are more of those coming: Billy’s working on some Ozark oak, Russian oak (which he notes has yielded particularly excellent results so far), expensive Japanese Mizunara oak, and the very rare Scottish oak. Apparently, the coopers hate Scottish oak, since the trees are kind of stunted and ugly and hard to make into casks. Neat! I’m looking forward to trying all those in the future.
Distillery: Glenallachie.
Bottler: Official bottling.
Region: Speyside.
ABV: 48%.
Age: 13 years.
Cask type: Initially matured in American oak ex-bourbon barrels, then finished for “almost” two years (per Glenallachie’s website) in Tempranillo Rioja red wine casks.
Price: N/A, tasting sample.
Color: Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Nose: Darker and less tart than the Grattamacco. Leads with flavours of juicy dark fruit and wine gums. Rich malt, soft baking spices, cocoa powder, browned butter, and red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. Honey and a tiny bit of bubblegum. Sparkling peach-grape juice (from when I was a somewhat younger lad).
Palate: Medium-thin texture. Arrives fruity, with orange peel, table grapes, plum, then big red wine and rich browned butter. Slightly peppery on the development, some wine tannins and light oak. Dark chocolate, and butterscotch, and buttered popcorn. Tangy blood orange.
Finish: Medium-length and mildly tannic. Lots more dry red wine. Browned butter, brown sugar, and butterscotch. Plum and grapefruit oil. Donut with chocolate sprinkles. Lingering honey.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Baking blondies in a velvet suit”
Conclusion: Ooo, way better than the Grattamacco, and much more my style of whisky. Instead of being all floral and bright sweet wine-cask fruit, it’s darker and richer, and filled with these gorgeous browned-butter notes that I really can’t get enough of. Great fragrant finish too.
Final Score: 86.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 