Batches 6 & 7 | 57.8% & 58.8% ABV

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Rich, thick, decadent, sumptuous. Does what it does in a big, bold way*

Whisky confidence

While some of us wait patiently to take delivery of the new Meikle Tòir peated Glenallachie spirit produced under the ownership of Billy Walker (unless you managed a bottle of last year’s 4 year old special release featuring his first self-produced whisky), we’ve hardly been starved of Glenallachie choice in the meantime.

There doesn’t seem to be a month go by without a new release from the distillery offering a new take on the old stock they’ve inherited. There’s now little point in re-telling the Billy Walker story, as remarkable as it is, as it’s been a story re-told often the past few years (for example, check out this story from Norrie Newsdesk on Mr. Walker’s 50 years in the business) We’ve reviewed a handful of these here within the halls of Dramface, from Aengus and Wally’s take on the 15 year old, Broddy’s view on a port cask edition, and Gallie’s take on an Abbey Whisky exclusive. But, given the bewildering variety of releases that we see from Glenallachie, we haven’t reviewed all that many of them. I wonder why that is.

To be fair, I haven’t put a microphone in front of my fellow Dramfacers and asked them on the spot “why haven’t you reviewed more Glenallachie given that there’s so much of it?”, but I might take the liberty of venturing a guess.

You may be guessing the same thing. Glenallachie tends to be held up as today’s quintessential cask-driven product. If you like a bit of whisky with your sherry, Glenallachie Is probably your jam. The thing is, many of us here at Dramface are a bit fussier (including yours truly): we usually want to be satiated by a finer balance between cask and spirit working together to create something more than each can achieve on their own.

When I come across a whisky where the finish has been too overpowering, I tend to not necessarily think it’s a bad whisky per se (although sometimes it is), just that it could have been so much more if handled with more care. Many of you might tend to say similar things when coming across whiskies where the cask has had too heavy a hand in suppressing the particular character of the spirit, thereby creating an unfortunately more one-dimensional experience.

Therein lies my dilemma with Glenallachie 10 year old cask strength. When I first discovered this bottle a few years back during the pandemic, I thought it was more Glendronach than Glendronach: a sherry nuke to destroy the mere sherry bombs. I tried previous editions, and bought this Batch 6 edition released in 2021, loved it, and immediately bought the next release (Batch 7) as soon as it was available.

But then I started to gather other takes on Glenallachie, many of which were less fawning than I was at the time. Many of these voices I had grown to trust (and still do), but their palates didn’t seem to be where my palate was. Many spoke of Billy Walker and his team having to “make do” with they have, and that Glenallachie was indeed a sherry bomb but thereby by definition wasn’t as complex or interesting as other more balanced malts.

I got the feeling that, as the Sophisticated Whisky Connoisseur that I wanted to be, that maybe I shouldn’t like this as much as I did. It was – and is – massively cask driven after all. More experienced palates seemed to want more spirit-led malts, or more balanced cask-and-spirit cooperative marriages. Maybe I was still too amateurish and early in my journey – far too green – to realise that experienced palates don’t usually go for this?

I started to keep quiet on my guilty pleasure with Glenallachie 10, for fear of appearing to have a newbie palate (which I did), of being discovered as a neophyte with an un-nuanced sense of what’s good and only liking things whose flavours land like a bold oloroso-and-PX slap across the face.

Jump ahead a few years later, to right now, as I sip Batches 6 and 7 alongside each other. My palate is still nowhere near as sophisticated or experienced as so many folks whose opinions I follow and respect. But, I’ve had a few more drams since then. And, guess what: I still love this stuff.

I’ve come around to a place where I love spirit-driven drams, cask-and-spirit happy marriage drams, and many things in between. While I still have so far to go, I feel that I’ve been around the block enough, nay, that I’ve ridden across the whisky landscape on my trusty steed (named Glencairn) enough, and had run-ins with a wide and ever-growing cast of characters, that I can appreciate this now for exactly what it is. When I want what this does, it delivers in spades.

Review 1/3

Glenallachie 10yo Cask Strength, Batch 6, 2021, 57.8% ABV
£65 paid, sold out

Some quick puttering around online tells us that the cask make-up is mostly PX and oloroso casks, with a small proportion of virgin oak and Rioja casks included as well.

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Thick, oily leather and molasses*

Nose

Ground coffee/coffee beans, oak, and deep red fruit sherry sweetness. Some almost herbal notes alongside the oak, with hints of booze-soaked figs. Gentle spices and distant leather.

Palate

Tobacco and cinnamon right off the bat. Treacle/molasses, brown sugar, plums, dark chocolate, syrup, with a thick and coating mouthfeel. A dark leathery quality. Some slight nuttiness/walnuts and slightly bitter oakiness, perhaps indicative of the virgin oak casks. Slightly singed or burnt brown sugar and, if held on the palate for ten seconds or so, some faint wine notes.

Score: 7/10 DD

Review 2/3

Glenallachie 10yo Cask Strength, Batch 7, 2022, 56.8% ABV
£65 paid, sold out

A bit of online searching tells us that the cask make-up of Batch 7 is essentially the same as Batch 6: a combination of Oloroso and PX casks, along with a small proportion of Rioja and Virgin Oak casks.

Score: 7/10

**Very good indeed.**
***TL:DR***
*A sherry bomb with added cocoa and chocolate powder*

Nose

Much the same: dark and rich sherried sweetness right away, alongside boozy dates, dark caramel, cinnamon, and a slight oakiness, but less than Batch 6.

Palate

More treacle/molasses right off the bat here, alongside milk chocolate, dark bitter chocolate, maple honey syrup, more burnt brown sugar, dark plums and figs, and spices such as cinnamon. Perhaps a bit more maltiness than Batch 6, and a slightly thinner mouthfeel.

The Dregs

There is batch variation evident here, and both are of course relatively young still, and pack a high-ABV punch. Batch 6 tends towards more dark leather and molasses, while Batch 7 offers a bit more cocoa powder and chocolate notes throughout. Yet the mouthfeel of Batch 6 feels a bit thicker and oilier than Batch 7. Drinking them alongside each other I’m finding I’m drawn back to Batch 6 a bit more. So while I’m landing on 6/10 for Batch 7 and 7/10 for Batch 6, there’s perhaps not a whole lot between them. If given the opportunity to buy either again, I’d go Batch 6.

Some of you might think 7/10 – or 6/10, for that matter – is too much for Glenallachie 10 Cask Strength. That’s fair enough. Opinions are like…well, you know what: everyone has them.

As much as I like this, it is definitely a mood dram for me. I don’t go to this for nuances of spirit distilled from excessive fermentation times to pick out the intricacies of cut points and so on. This is pretty much the opposite of that kind of whisky enjoyment. This might sound like a back-handed insult, but it’s really not meant to be: I pour this when I want to enjoy something decadent without thinking too much. I can still enjoy something without putting on my whisky lab coat and peering through the microscope into the glass and analysing everything about it.

This does what it does so damn well that it’s easy to see why it usually doesn’t stick around too long on the shelves. This is big, bold, rich, decadent, luxurious, and sumptuous. If you like that sort of thing. And sometimes, I very much do. And when I want that – which admittedly isn’t so often, because I have a relatively promiscuous palate – this scratches that itch in exactly the way that I want. And I don’t care who knows it.

Score: 7/10 DD

Review 3/3 Broddy’s Review

Glenallachie 10yo Cask Strength, Batch 6, 2021, 57.8% ABV
CAD$110 (£65) paid, sold out

I had long since aggressively shared and rinsed this whisky, with the exception of keeping behind a 120ml sample for my records. So when I saw that Drummond was intending on reviewing Batch 6, I reached into the depths of my sample bottles and pulled this little nugget out to contribute. It was quite the revelation a year after polishing the bottle off.

Score: 7/10

**Very good indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Better than I remember, and better in today’s market too*

Nose

Butterscotch pudding, toffee, plum jam, candied walnuts. Background vanilla. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The nose very much belies the strength of this whisky, keeping its cards close to the chest.

Palate

Dark toffee, treacle, vanilla, barrel char, Terry’s chocolate orange (orange flavoured milk chocolate), dark raisins, brown sugar gingersnap cookies. The typical sherry nuttiness is quite mellow, hiding behind the more prominent sweeter notes. The alcohol prickle is hidden behind a lovely dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkled with a pinch of white pepper. I seem to remember this hitting my palate harder since the last time I poured some. Perhaps some air time has mellowed this out!

The mouthfeel and finish aligns with its age. The cask strength helps retain some weight, the sherry provides some gloopiness, while the relatively young age just reduces these factors to remind yourself that it is younger whisky. The finish is medium-short and is a quickly fading sweet experience dotted with some indistinct red berry jams.

The Dregs

What a turn of events! I initially never directly connected with this whisky when purchased 18 months or so ago, hence the prolific sharing and quick rinsing of the bottle. But fast forward a year since my last dram, and I’m immediately connecting with it more than I remember. Interesting how time can change things.

Following this revelation, I’m now looking at my local retailers and Batch, 7, 8, and 9 are currently available, for very similar or even lower prices to what I paid for Batch 6. I had no intentions of purchasing another cask-driven Glenallachie but I’m now reconsidering, especially in light of the forthcoming Canadian winter and ever increasing prices of other malt whiskies.

Once more, my wallet is in trouble.

Score: 7/10 BB

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DD

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