GlenAllachie – 21yr Batch Number One 51.4%

Review by Sean Russell

November 2020

GlenAllachie isn’t new anymore to many of us. They’ve been ripping through the industry for a couple of years with their core range and single cask bottlings, and shoulder-barging the competition. As time goes on, Billy Walker seems to be delving deeper and deeper into the stocks of casks in the warehouse and releasing some fantastic creations. This bottle was officially released today, and as a total spoiler alert - it has topped the lot so far (in my very humble opinion)

Appearance: Polished Walnut. Long, thin & slow oily legs.

Nose: Beautifully refined and elegant sherry notes at the off that are deep & aromatic. Antique bees wax furniture polish, dark and juicy simmering raisins, cherries, and the slightest sprinkling of cinnamon rise up and out of the glass. Now there are deep notes of an old and worn leather chair, and dark muscovado sugar appearing.

Palate: Beautiful brown sugar-sweetness in a thick and oily overcoat cover every nook and cranny of the mouth. There’s almost no alcohol tingle at all. Now the palate is picking up faint tobacco leaf-dryness before a second wave of sweetness arrives. There’s a gentle dryness at the end. This is actually incredibly reminiscent of a damn fine GlenDronach.

Finish: Long. A polished sweetness lingers on the palate whilst that gentle tobacco leaf note dances around on the sidelines. An ever-so light woody-dryness is there at the end but it’s in perfect harmony with everything else.

Water adds... This whisky really doesn’t need any water whatsoever as it’s spot on.

Conclusion: Absolutely stunning. I could drink this all day and all night (which is highly abnormal and I do not endorse this kind of behaviour!)

Thanks to the distillery for the generous sample. Available at around £195 at the time of writing.