
January 10, 2020

Little Duos, today indie Glenallachie

We’ve got quite a few official wine-finished ones yet to try, but we’ll rather focus on some little indies today, if you don’t mind…

Glenallachie 2007/2019 (62.8%, La Maison du Whisky, Chapter IV, sherry hogshead, cask # 900170)

Glenallachie 2007/2019 (62.8%, La Maison du Whisky, Chapter IV, sherry hogshead, cask # 900170)
This one could well be a little extreme… Colour: amber with red hues. Nose: nosing a pack of Mars bars, plus a little Bovril. I don’t get much else so far, but that’s most probably the very high strength. With water: soups won it. Vegetable soup, leek, chicken bouillon, and then a feeling of Mexican chocolate sauce. All that works pretty well. Mouth (neat): heavy and thickish sherry, somewhat cloying I have to say, with touches of rice pudding here and there. Once again, it’s a little too strong when neat. With water: good sherry, with oranges, raisins, chocolate, and the usual spicy cake, caraway, cloves… Finish: long, a little saltier, with a meaty aftertaste. Comments: not sure the distillate had much to say, and this baby may have lacked a few more years of ageing anyway, but it is a very fine drop for sure. The thing is, Glenallachie is neither Ledaig nor Ben Nevis so this was rather some heavily fortified sherry in my book.
SGP:461 - 82 points.

Glenallachie 8 yo 1991/2000 (43%, Signatory Vintage, Sherry butt, cask #1343, 890 bottles)

Some sister casks had been a little difficult, ranging from WF 70 to 75, but that was a long, long time ago. Colour: white wine. Nose: chalk and porridge, with some cut grass and quite some yoghurt and cream cheese (hey Suzy), then gym socks and a little baby vomit. Not sure anyone would still bottle something like this in 2019; certainly not Signatory! Mouth: nicer, but still shaky and wobbly. Sour fruits, cream, bitter herbs (crunching pine needles), white pepper and some baker’s yeast. Some nicer fruits emerging after a little while, but that’s a little late while those fruits may have started rotting. Finish: rather short, grassy and bitter, but with nicer lemons in the aftertaste. A feeling of Schweppes. Comments: a pretty difficult and somewhat cubist drop, but it’s got something charming. Perhaps its humbleness? Perhaps the fact that it could have resembled Ben Nevis, had some cursors been pushed to the max? Let’s not be too harsh, and it’s an old bottling anyway.
SGP:351 - 70 points.

That was what we could call a pretty ‘small’ session, was it not.

Check the index of all Glenallachie we've tasted so far