Follow Us:

Blog

KWM 2020 Whisky Calendar Day 18: GlenAllachie 15 Year Old

Posted on November 7, 2021

by Evan

Day Eighteen is here for us and the 2020 KWM Whisky Calendar, and it looks like we are taking a darker turn based on the look of the liquid in this bottle. It is beginning to look a lot like Sherry with the GlenAllachie 15-Year-Old!



GlenAllachie Single Malt Scotch and its Flintstone's-esque choice of font are still fairly new entries into the tough competition for your Scotch Whisky dollars. GlenAllachie Distillery was founded in 1967 by the same group that managed to revive the Isle of Jura Distillery a few years earlier. It ran for two decades before being shut down in 1987. In 1989 was sold to Campbell Distillers, which was owned by the company we now call Pernod Ricard. The company increased the amount of stills and reopened the distillery, using the whisky produced by GlenAllachie specifically for blending purposes.

All of that has changed quickly since a group led by Billy Walker purchased the distillery from Pernod Ricard in 2017. Since then, the distillery has undergone a sea change in both in branding and ownership philosophy.

Billy Walker might be a name you have heard before, especially if you are fans of the BenRiach and/or GlenDronach Distillery. He previously lead a group responsible for reviving both distilleries: first BenRiach in 2004, then GlenDronach in 2008. Glenglassaugh Distillery was purchased by the same group in 2013, but sadly Billy Walker and the company behind him ended up selling the joint venture of three distilleries to Brown Foreman in 2016. The upside of that sale is it allowed Billy Walker and another group to purchase GlenAllachie and begin working his magic with this distillery.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend - standing next to Billy Walker

So what is this magic that Billy Walker wields that others (especially Pernod Ricard, apparently) do not? There are a few key parts to it by my reckoning:

  • Put the focus on quality Single Malt Whisky above all else. To do this, you have to:
    • Slow the fermentation process of the mash. This takes more time between mashes and can slow down overall production, but it can have a major benefit on the spirit produced.
    • Only buy and fill high-quality casks. Part of his philosophy seems to be that the wood makes the whisky - or at least makes the whisky more palatable. Hence the re-racking of whisky left tired casks into top-quality fresh casks and the use of various finishing casks.
      • Another part of this seems to be: do not settle for refill hogsheads - at least not in the short term. Put whisky into first-fill casks whenever possible. Note: this can be expensive, as y0u cannot reuse casks as often as other companies do because of this.
  • Release, release, release. Then release some more.
    • If people aren't paying enough attention to your distillery, then you don't have enough different bottlings for them to purchase. You need to push your competition right off the shelf using the sheer volume of different cask finishes you have available!
  • Make sure to capitalize the first letter in the distillery name after the 'Glen' for no discernable reason.
    • I think that we can all agree that this is the most important feature in Billy Walker's genius vision. The reason we do not know about or talk about Glenglassaugh to the same extent as BenRiach or GlenDronach (and now GlenAllachie) is that he never got around to capitalizing that 'G'.

The GlenAllachie core did not originally include the 15 Year Old when it was originally launched in the summer of 2018. In the 2018 version of the KWM Whisky Calendar, we included two of these bottles: the 12 Year Old and the 10-Year-Old Cask Strength Batch 2. I am particularly a fan of the Cask Strength, which uses a cask combination that includes ex-Bourbon, ex-Sherry and Virgin Oak in its makeup. The ratio of casks changes a bit with each batch, as does the ABV.

The GlenAllachie 15 was added to the lineup a little over a year later. This more ex-sherry-driven bottling has quickly found a fanbase, including us at KWM, due to its rich, coffee, dried fruit and chocolate-driven nature. In my opinion, this release has nicely filled a hole left by one of Billy Walker's prior distillery releases, the much-lauded but now more difficult to find GlenDronach 15 Year Old.

The GlenAllachie range has exploded in size and scope over the past few years, as Billy Walker continues to work his magic by re-racking casks of GlenAllachie and adding a variety of cask finishes to the lineup. We just received a handful of these this year, most of which I haven't even had the chance to taste yet. Perhaps one or two of them will make them into a future KWM Whisky Calendar? That remains to be seen but I feel that they would be fun inclusions!

So, what does the GlenAllachie 15-Year-Old have to offer? I believe I have built up the anticipation a good amount with this write-up - or at least left you ready for a drink. Will it live up to expectations? Time to find out!



GlenAllachie 15-Year-Old - 46%

Evan's Tasting Note

Nose: Dark chocolate, freshly ground coffee, polished leather, prunes, dates, blackberry jam, nutmeg and MacKintosh's Toffee.

Palate: Palate coating and rich with plenty of caramelized sugars, raisins, milk chocolate coated almonds, espresso, cafe mocha, chocolate mousse, cinnamon, and a touch of apple pie

Finish: The chocolate and dried fruit notes stick around with the throat coating warmth.

Comment: If you are an unabashed lover of heavily sherried Single Malt and you have not had this, then you need to change that now. You need to find a spot in your cupboard or on your shelf for this one.

What will tomorrow bring us? Could it be another GlenFarclas, or GlenFiddich, or even a GlenMorangie behind Door Number 19? Only time will tell!

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

 

This entry was posted in Store, Whisky, Tastings, KWM Whisky Calendar 2020, Whisky Calendars

 

 

Recent Posts
Archives

Categories