Whisky Focus - The Glenallachie Unveil Core Range

The Glenallachie Unveil Core Range


2nd July 2018
Glenallachie has unveiled a new core range comprising of four single malt whiskies, a Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength, 12, 18 and 25 Year Old.

The Glenallachie Core Range - Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength, 12, 18 and 25 Year Old.

Although the Glenallachie has always had quite a significant production output, 4,000,000 litres per year at the last count it is not a single malt most whisky drinkers will be familiar with. The reason for this was that the distillery was part of the Pernod Ricard portfolio of distilleries from 1989 up until 2017 and during that time most of the Glenallachie production went into Pernod Ricard's range of blended whiskies.

In October 2017 Pernod Ricard sold the Speyside distillery to a three person consortium lead by the former BenRiach Distillery Company managing director Billy Walker, the sale included not only the Glenallachie single malt brand but also MacNair’s and White Heather blended scotch brands and importantly the relevant inventories to support future development of those brands.

After the best part of a year in the hands of the Billy Walker led Glenallachie consortium assessing the maturing stock of almost 50,000 casks, the Glenallachie distillery has unveiled a new Glenallachie core whisky range comprising of four single malt whiskies, a Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength, 12, 18 and 25 Year Old all of which are naturally coloured, non-chill-filtered and bottled at a minimum of 46% ABV.

Glenallachie was always historically rated as a 2nd Class malt by blenders, a rating which wasn't always an indication of the quality of a whisky when bottled as a single malt but more often than not the rating was a good indication of what the whisky was like as a single malt. As you know the cask a whisky matures in plays an enormous roll in making the whisky, so whisky drinkers can now judge for themselves if given the right maturation the 2nd Class rating from days gone by was warranted and if Pernod Ricard was correct to use Glenallachie as a blending malt for all the years the distillery was in their hands or was Glenallachie a hidden Speyside gem?

The Glenallachie 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 1 is said to reflect Walker’s desire to showcase a taste of The GlenAllachie Distillery bottled straight from the cask at natural strength. The 57.1% whisky was matured in American oak, Pedro Ximinez, Oloroso and virgin oak casks, and is described as tasting of honey, vanilla, toffee, marmalade with a layer of rose hip and Caribbean spices. Priced around £58.

The Glenallachie 12 Year Old is bottled at 46% ABV, it is described by Walker as "the heart of our range." Matured in Pedro Ximinez, Oloroso and virgin oak casks, the whisky imparts sweet Butterscotch notes on the nose, and a taste of honey, marzipan and bananas, plus further lashings of Butterscotch. Priced around £42.50

The Glenallachie 18 year old, bottled at 46% ABV it is said to exemplify the signature style of GlenAllachie – a combination of rich and robust spirit with heather and butterscotch notes, along with subtle hints of dark chocolate. Priced around £92.

The Glenallachie 25 Year Old bottled at 48% ABV, it sits at the top of the new core range, of the range, the distillery describe it as being a beautiful beaten copper colour following its quarter of a century maturing in Pedro Ximinez, Oloroso and American oak casks. They say that this regally rich single malt whisky delivers lashings of sultanas, pineapples and dark chocolate, followed by layers of Christmas cake, marmalade and sweet spices. Priced around £230.

The Glenallachie distillery now has distribution in more than 28 countries including the USA, Germany, Taiwan, China, France and of course here in the UK.

You will find the new Glenallachie core whisky range available from specialist online whisky retailers such as The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt
 

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