This review of the GlenAllachie 12 year old is the first of a series of five dedicated to entry-level original bottlings aged in ex-Sherry casks. It is also an opportunity to break a preconceived idea which I certainly fall victim to. The idea that all distilleries have a centenary tradition and an unbroken track in the whisky world. Excluding those that belong to the wave of post-2010 openings, obviously. Well, not every distillery’s story follows that trope…
TL:DR: An intriguing showcase of skilful cask ageing on a less than perfect starting material
Vote*: 6.5, between Good and Very Good Stuff
An uneventful start
Glenallachie is a relatively new distillery. It was commissioned in 1967 by Mackinley-Mackhperson, primarily to contribute to blends. In 1985 it was sold, together with Jura, to Invergordon, then mothballed and temporarily closed. In 1989 it was acquired and put back in production by Pernod Ricard. During this time Glenalachie was never held in particular high regard. There were no regular official releases and most of the spirit produced continued to go into blends.
I have a 2008 guide to Scottish distilleries. Occasionally I look back at it to gain a bit of historical perspective. The Glenallachie distillery gets hardly half a paragraph of description. It does figure. At that time, it was pretty much ignored by the general public. From what I was able to find, the spirit produced back then was considered light, fruity and floral whisky. In 2017 Pernod Ricard sold the distillery to Billy Walker and partners. Walker was the former owner of BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh. (And yes, Walker seems to have a thing for double capitals). This is where Glenallachie became “capital A” GlenAllachie and it shot to the whisky world’s attention.
A celebrity transformation
If you haven’t heard of Billy Walker… have you been living under a rock? Kidding aside, Walker is today the closest thing to a Scottish Whisky superstar as you can find. His career spans over 50 years working at Ballantine’s, Deanston, Tobermory, BenRiach, GlenDronach, Glenglassaugh and finally GlenAllachie. There are many online articles covering his career. I suggest you drop to Dramface (heaven for us whisky geeks and unbound by commercial interests from producers).
Before GlenAllachie Walker and his team had built a reputation for rebuilding once ignored brands by transforming BenRiach and GlenDronach. With GlenAllachie Walker started using his experience and ability for cask ageing and finishing, to transform the existing whisky stock into something exciting. You just need to look at GlenAllachie’s special releases to get an idea of the wide variety of sherry, sweet and dry wine casks employed. Meanwhile, production was modified to introduce much longer fermentation times of the wort (up to 160 hours). Everything branded GlenAllachie today, beside a single 4 year old special “Future Edition”, is still made with Pernod Ricard spirit.
A new beginning
Last year GlenAllachie launched a 5 year old heavily peated whisky branded Meikle Tòir. This new line (in 3 cask finishes and a special extra heavily peated version) was created from start to finish by the new ownership. Having had a chance to try some, I can just tease that the future looks very bright at GlenAllachie.
A quick note on the pics in this article and the bottle design Before diving into the review of the GlenAllachie 12. The whole brand has, as of early 2024 , undergone a redesign. Gone is the so called “wood” design which frankly was terrible and looks like a discarded font for either the Flintstones or LoneRanger. For a look at the new brand, if you have not already seen it, head to GlenAllachie’s announcement.
GlenAllachie 12 year old
Specs
Price paid: €48.00
Lot/bottled date: 20 08 22
ABV: 46%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: not stated on packaging or website but widely reported to be Sherry, specifically ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximenez plus some virgin oak casks
Tasting Notes
Colour: Quite dark for a 12 year old and natural colour, dark amber.
Nose: Intense and rich. The immediate impact is fresh and dry fruit. The nose starts with a big hit of banana (which I am not a fan of), followed by apple, cherry and some pineapple plus figs and dates. Just under these, a strong note of chemical vanilla essence which I suspect comes from the virgin oak casks. Then more complexity emerges, with sweet ginger & cinnamon spice, a sweet dry hay herbal note, caramel and some dried orange peel. After 10-15 minutes in the glass some darker, sherry notes reveal themselves, some mocha, molasses and a savoury spice note of cumin.
Taste: Quite hot and spicy, like chilli spice. This is not because of the 46% ABV, it is the spirit itself that carries this heat. Once the heat dies down the flavours are quite rich. First orange-flavoured caramel, followed by dark chocolate and coffee, some malt notes, a bit of ginger & vanilla, some fruitiness and just a touch of oak
Finish: The finish is all dark sherry notes, and rich coffee with a hint of chocolate, dates, and sweet spices. The aftertaste is brighter, more fruit and hay with a slight oaky bitterness
Vote*: 6.5, Between Good and Very good. This is an intriguing whisky but the heat on the palate and the big banana whack at the start knock off at least half a point.
* Votes are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Conclusions
Before writing the close of this GlenAllachie 12 review I took a couple of days to reflect. There is a lot I like here. The intriguing balance of fruity and herbal spirit notes mixed with well-handled sherry ageing provides a captivating drinking experience. On the other hand, there are a few things I didn’t enjoy. I am not a huge fan of banana notes, which I associate with a quick fermentation, and the heat of the spirit on the palate is not great.
In any case, I am happy to have this in my collection. Would I buy the GlenAllachie 12 again? I might move to a different bottle, probably the 15 year old or the 10 year old Cask Strength next. Or maybe look for one of the many special cask finish editions to see what magic Billy Walker manages to conjure up there.
Back to where I started… to finish things off
Going back to the question in the title if cask quality trumps spirit quality, the answer is neither a resounding yes nor no. There heat on the palate and the very strong banana note make me think of a mediocre spirit being made under the previous ownership. I am no master distiller so maybe I am just imagining things, but for me those associate wiht short fermentation and quick distillation.
The cask influence brings a lot to the whisky. It adds layers of richness and complexity that blend well with the spirit but doesn’t fully hide those niggles. I am looking forward to finally taste a GlenAllachie made from Billy’s own distillate. And I am sure, so are tons of other whisky drinkers. We might need to wait until 2027 for that. The extended fermentation times promise a much fruitier and more complex spirit. If the new-ish peated 5 year old Miekle Toir is anything of an indication, I think we are in for a treat.
I always find it interesting, after writing my tasting notes, to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of the GlenAllachie 12 year old I enjoyed:
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