GlenAllachie 10 Year Cask Strength (Batch 5)
GlenAllachie 10 Year Cask Strength (Batch 5)
Next we have The GlenAllachie 10 Year old to make back-to-back 10 year old Speyside scotches this week. The only other GlenAllachie I have tasted was the SMWS Oven-Ready Moomin that I reviewed a bit ago so I am interested to see how the core lineup compares to the single casks as this is also a cask strength (like SMWS).
Batch 5: Aged in Pedro Ximénez, Oloroso, Virgin Oak, and Rioja casks.
ABV: 55.9%
How it smells…honey, grapefruit and floral notes….with water, opens up to more vanilla & oak, the floral decreases and it has an almost bourbon-like aroma to it. Interesting…
How it tastes….sweet to start with caramel, cola and toffee in the middle and some spicy & peppery heat that dissipates quickly at the end, finishing with dark chocolate….with water, it starts sweeter and fruitier followed by a chili chocolate that warms your tongue with mild heat and a semi-sweet chocolate finish.
Price…. $81.
Rating...🥃🥃🥃🥃
Final thoughts….I’m impressed. Visually, this is the darkest 10 year old scotch that I have ever seen. The color almost looks like a well aged bourbon from Texas. I’m assuming it picked up a lot of color (in addition to flavor) from the various casks it was aged in. Taste wise, it’s very interesting. It is nothing at all like the SMWS barrel that I tasted, it has none of that funk, but it also had another 2 years of aging and some additional types of wine casks for aging. It is also extremely smooth for a near 60% ABV pour. Straight from the bottle, you get some clear transitions of flavor while adding a dab of water melds all of those flavors together. Two enjoyable experiences, but slightly different. With water, the end has some more spice/peppery heat on your tongue. I really enjoyed this sip (my wife, not so much).
Value wise, I have to go with 4x 🥃. I gave the SMWS a 3x 🥃 rating and that was $25 more than this. Both were cask strength and young(er) whiskies, but they were very different tasting experiences. It is a bit pricy given the age, but again, it’s cask strength so when you adjust for that, it’s kinda like a $60 bottle. The WORST thing about this bottle is now I’m going to have to try every Batch and explore the upper ranges of their core releases…and that ain’t so bad.
