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.

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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