
August 14, 2025

Some Glenallachie and quite a bit of sherry

Amazing how this name has grown in importance in recent years. Well done.

Glenallachie 12 yo ‘Sauternes Wine Cask Finish’ (48%, OB, 6,000 bottles, +/-2022)

These are obviously not the kinds of expressions we usually favour (the ‘wineskies’), yet you never know, Sauternes can sometimes work rather well and at GA they do know their way around finishing/double maturation… Colour: light gold. Nose: vanilla, apricot yoghurt, mirabelle yoghurt, all-flower honey ‘from the European Union’, then herbal infusions, lime blossom, chamomile and so on. Nothing to complain about, a lovely nose. Mouth: quite creamy, close to a first fill bourbon, without too many obvious nods to Sauternes, rather on a fine apricot tart topped with vanilla cream and acacia honey. A few little jellybabies from Haribo. Finish: medium in length yet tighter, leaning more towards lemon. The aftertaste is more herbal. Lemon jellybabies, all in all. Comments: cool, very easy bottling.
SGP:641 - 82 points.

Glenallachie 14 yo 2007/2022 (64.9%, Signatory Vintage for Waldhaus am See, Animal Edition No.2, first fill sherry butt, cask #900164, 538 bottles)

Here we are in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in the Engadine. A charming place, though in this case, at 65% vol., it’s clearly not for the faint of heart. Colour: dark amber. Nose: caramel, toffee, fudge, millionaire’s shortbread (unsurprising in St. Moritz), dried raisins… But the alcohol does block it a little. With water: sherry, sherry, sherry. A rather pleasant vinosity, in fact. Mouth (neat): it packs a punch and feels a touch rustic. Corn syrup and caramel. With water: it remains a bit rough, close to the eaux-de-vie of which, I’m certain, they produce a fine contingent in the Engadine. Plenty of kirsch, above all. Finish: same again, it’s a bit monolithic. Comments: perhaps straight from the bottle after a long day’s skiing? Quite a beast, at any rate.
SGP:461 - 82 points.

Glenallachie 9 yo 2014/2024 (58.6%, Best Dram, 1st fill PX sherry hogshead, cask #9900214, 315 bottles)

Glenallachie 9 yo 2014/2024 (58.6%, Best Dram, 1st fill PX sherry hogshead, cask #9900214, 315 bottles)
Colour: dark amber. Nose: absolutely all in on the toffee and caramel, as if this bottle had been tailor-made for Starbucks! As such, it’s simple, but very charming in that simplicity. With water: sorry, but we must roll out the Mars bars once again. Family pack, please, plus a superbly ‘over the top’ mix of honey and moscatel. Mouth (neat): liquid caramel, but also all manner of young Catalan rancios and thick, sweet muscats. PX in action, but here it seems to work rather well. Beware: if your lips start sticking together mid-tasting, that’s perfectly normal, no need to dash off to your doctor. With water: splendid! Heaps of raisins, but we’ve nothing against raisins. Finish: same again. Comments: extremely full-on in the sweet PX style (PX isn’t always sweet) but I must confess I rather like this extravagant side. The neighbours will love it.
SGP:741 - 86 points.

Glenallachie 14 yo 2008/2023 (54.1%, Duncan Taylor, Single Cask Collection, sherry, cask #30900803, 628 bottles)

Colour: dark amber. Nose: fairly dry sherry, rum, very dry raisins, nuts, pecan pie, roasted peanuts… With water: raisin rolls, scones, cheesecake with muscat raisins. Mouth (neat): there’s a PX side to it, but drier, less extroverted, and therefore perhaps a little less, shall we say, stimulating. Bitter oranges and grey pepper. With water: it’s the cask’s ‘honey’ that takes the lead, and one doesn’t feel the distillate has much else to say. Finish: fairly long, on honey and sultanas. The aftertaste is more herbal. Comments: in this style, I tend to think it’s better when it goes fully extreme, decadent, exuberant and frankly ‘too much’, if we’re doing it at all. Here, it’s really very lovely, but still a touch on the polite side…
SGP:651 - 80 points.

Glenallachie 2008/2022 (64.7%, Berry Bros. & Rudd, Kirsch Import Germany, sherry butt, cask #80901090, 598 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: curiously gentle and mild given the voltage, though it still carries notes of old walnut, damp wine cellar (right, dunnage) and cabbage leaf. With water: saltpetre and slag. Not exactly top-notch, let’s say. Mouth (neat): a little muddled, on green pepper, artichokes, aubergines, pea pods and leather. I doubt the intention was for anyone to tackle this baby without a single drop of H2O – it’s as rough as a Prussian Unterfeldwebel, as my dear grandmother, born in the 19th century, might have put it. With water: better, you’ll say it was about time, but it still feels rough and, frankly, somewhat marked by sulphur. Finish: fairly long, more herbal, yet also with bitter oranges. Comments: not hugely convinced by this cask, which clashes like a rapper who’s lost his backing track.
SGP:471 - 77 points.

Time for one last one, as we’re starting to flag (just a bit) … Come on, let’s make an effort!

Glenallachie 30 yo ‘Batch 4’ (49.1%, OB, cask strength, 2024)

We’ve never tried any of the previous 30-year-old batches. In this case, it’s five casks, three PX and two oloroso, though we don’t know if this was full maturation or just re-racked ‘at the right time’. Colour: red mahogany. Nose: strawberry jam turbocharged with kirsch and cognac at first, then leather, tobacco, mulled wine and, indeed, rancio come quickly to the rescue. Whiffs of rose petals and patchouli lend charm to this composition which, let’s admit, gave us a bit of a fright at the outset. Mouth: this is good, very aromatic, rather oriental in its spicing, almost like tasting Japanese red bean paste seasoned with umeshu and caraway. If that sounds strange, don’t worry, it’s a very fine old Glenallachie, even if it feels as though it’s been through a touch of cosmetic surgery in Istanbul or São Paulo. In short, very good, just a little surprising. Finish: long, sweet, passing through pine nuts and old plum liqueur, which ties back to the aforementioned umeshu. It ends on blackberry, raspberry and blueberry jams. Comments: a lot of cask work here, quite evidently. Raspberry really is something else!
SGP:641 - 85 points.

In the end, our favourite was the 9-year-old from Best Dram. Long live Best Dram!

Check the index of all Glenallachie we've tasted