Peated Core Releases | 48% & 50% ABV

Where’s Wally?

Behind the Dramface curtain there hangs a strong and tight-knit team. They’re invested and keen and they behave in a way that makes me feel like they’re proud of what they’ve built.

I know I am. I’m proud of the team too. With each new article our catalogue grows and we take another tiny step forward in relevance for today’s whisky consumer. Now that there are so many articles built up, the background traffic noise is building too. With some additional fine tuning to toss those search engines the treats they desire, we could build that further.

It means that every day, at any moment, someone is reading, sharing, browsing, editing or fettling the site. It’s rewarding to witness. It’s almost as if it's become something sentient. There’s a pulse, a vibe and, through the comments section, a crucial growing sense of community too.

Certainly, it means Wally can take his hand off the tiller from time to time, which is just as well, as has been the obvious case recently. Yet, with a sharp-eyed team in place, dangerous obstacles are mostly avoided. Despite continuing to build and edit articles in the background almost daily, I’ve really not been able to give the site the attention it deserves, but in the past week or so that’s changing once more. The decks have been cleared of other big and distracting projects and I can settle into something of a routine again. For some weeks ahead at least.

I suppose what I’m saying is that things have gelled quite nicely, and we’ll continue the grind to build that relevance and pedigree, and hone our value, it is not dependent on a single voice. We are a team.

One of the most interesting aspects for me has been bringing in perspectives from those less experienced. That’s a surprise, but not completely so. I always believed that it had a value, even if I’m enjoying just how well that’s been received. I remember my own first, tentative steps into whisky, back in the days where everything I seemed to find was either aloof, brand-led or in the voice of an ‘expert’.

There were spaces for enthusiasts, certainly, and I remember the halcyon days of Malt Madness and the Malt Maniacs, but it all still had a sense of distance. Whisky Fun is still going strong, and fortified by Angus, but these were places that seemed to be for those ‘in the know’ with no obvious way to interact. It was a few too many rungs up the knowledge ladder; and consumption over connectedness. Which is, of course, all fine.

There was an excellent platform in the Whisky, Whisky, Whisky Forum, which is still on the go today, and that felt a little more like I could reach honest, like-minded sorts to glean everything I could to make each new purchase a little more worthy, but for the most part I do recall feeling a little left to my own devices.

Eventually, I met a whisky pal and we studied like we were the maniacs, meeting weekly to share new purchases and deliver executive summaries to each other about the new bottles at hand and what had motivated us to invest in them. Every single bottle was eagerly opened. Quiet, but smug, contentment was the prize should one of us uncover a ‘stoater’.

Oh how we’d have loved a Dramface back then to share our new discoveries, especially at a time when they were so much more affordable. In the end, what I eventually found was a whisky club, WhiskyTube and even more whisky pals. That’s when the learnin’ really kicked into gear.

Pals like the folk behind the scenes at Dramface. In the background, they are chattering away and their knowledge plain is rising. With shared information and more experiences in whisky exploration, we each read each other's thoughts through our group chat as well as each other’s articles. However, if we were to consider that it’s the more experienced among us that are teaching the less so, we’d be quite wrong. That’s not the case. Everyone you meet in whisky can teach you something you don’t yet know, and amongst our team the knowledge pool swells as we feed off each other and the excellent feedback from you, the reader. 

Last week, we released our 700th review and we recorded our busiest ever week over the last few days. Meanwhile, our paying subscribers grow in support of what we do. In time, we’ll get creative in finding ways to shine a little light of gratitude back their way, but in the meantime thank you to all of you who seem to buy into honest, independent opinions from the ground up.

Anyway, I say all of that to say this; we’re here to stay. Even if you’ve not heard from Wally in a while, I’m here, building away and grinning at the terrific content, stories and individualistic takes on whisky and its myriad forms. I think it’s needed now more than ever, with things as complex as they’ve ever been, it’s hard to keep up; even for a maniacal whisky botherer like me.

Take these three bottles from Glenallachie. They seemed to drop, unannounced, from Billy Walker’s whisky sky and I, for one, was surprised. By a couple of things.

Firstly, I was surprised by the new branding, especially after 2022’s Glenallachie four year old peated release. Coming five years after the takeover of the distillery from previous owners Chivas Brothers, this was the first official release of “Billy’s spirit’. Despite its £80 and upwards price tag, it vanished into whisky vapours. I got nowhere close to a bottle.

I have since had the opportunity to try it a little and it was truly a flavour bomb; estery, fermentation-forward bread and fruit towered over the peat smoke. I was looking forward to more. Then, in September this year, along came a completely new brand to build; Meikle Tòir, which apparently means ‘big pursuit’. Well, there’s no doubt it is.

I know it’s fashionable to have your peated whisky definable as a separate brand, much like Longrow, Ballechin, Cù Bòcan, Old Ballantruan, Port Charlotte and many, many more, which are all released as peated versions and do not bear the names of their respective distilleries. Still, building brands takes a lot of resources and it’s a very emotive thing. I can’t help thinking they’d have made a bigger splash branded as Glenallachie, especially with their already heavily-invested and eager fanbase. Still, they have their reasons and what do I know?

Then there was the choice to release not one or two, but four different expressions at the same time. Rather than spread the releases and lessen the wallet-bashing a little with a core-range fulcrum, followed by a few specials, out popped all four at once. Boof.

As well as these three we have an additional small-batch, super-peated expression called The Turbo at 50% ABV, which has a much tighter middle-cut and a peat phenols count of 71ppm, apparently.

The PR releases from Glenallachie’s agency at the time quote this as ‘spirit PPM’ which suggests that’s what’s in the bottle. If that’s true, and not an error, that is extremely hefty. Keep in mind most phenol specs banded around are based on malt PPM - before it’s mashed, fermented and distilled. The bottling PPM value is usually much, much lower. In any case, these remain numbers, it’s how it lands on the palate that matters.

The rest of my surprise with these releases would be better described as pure delight. Firstly, every bottle carries a bold and confident age statement of 5 years. Wonderful. But to make it loud and clear who these bottles are laser-focused toward, they also declare non-chill filtered and natural colour statements on the bottle label. Icing this smoky cake are mighty bottling strengths of 48% ABV for The Chinkapin One and The Sherry One with the aforementioned Turbo and The Original being treated to 50% ABV. Would you like a little cherry on that cake?

They were all released at £50. In today’s opportunistic playground, for brand new whisky, that is a reassuring gesture and one which encouraged this fat-fingered whisky botherer to head out and pick up all three. This recipe is right on the money, with pin-sharp and on-the-pulse choices to capture the attention of the modern flavour-chaser and natural whisky zeitgeist.

All that’s left is for the cake to taste nice. Let’s take a wee bite.

Review 1/3

Meikle Tòir, The Original, 50% ABV
£50 and wide availability

All these releases are the product of huge 160 hour long fermentations and the use of mainland peat sourced from St Fergus in Scotland’s North East.

This version is the product of first-fill bourbon, virgin oak and rye barrels.

Nose

Roasted chestnuts and caramel, eucalyptus, vanilla pods and lemon drops. Burnt grass and hearth smoke with a herbaceous note that’s wonderfully reminiscent of being downwind of marijuana.

Palate

Not much ganja on the palate. What actually arrives is a wash of smoky ginger and sweet lime. It’s nutty too, with an almond note and a sense of smoked marzipan, even although I doubt such a thing exists. There’s density as you try to unpack fruits; sweet-but-dried apricot and mango. Strangely, the estery fermentation elements I was expecting are much more restrained, as is the smoke. No chance your whisky pal is going to pick this out as a five year old though, it noses and tastes twice its age.

At first it’s simple, but spending time with it and dropping in splashes of water adds complexity and occasional creaminess, with cracked black pepper and a floral-scented hairspray note swirling from the glass at times. It does feel a little blanketed by the VO casks, however. I really hope they’re filling refill casks too for future fun.

Decent though. Good start.

Score: 6/10

Review 2/3

Meikle Tòir, The Chinkapin One, 48% ABV
£50 and wide availability

The deets on this one are that it started its life in generic ‘American oak’ before being recasked into Chinkapin Quercus muehlenbergii oak, which was an oak species first brought to my attention via Isle of Raasay releases.

Nose

Very sweet and thick on nosing; creme caramel and toffee sauce, dollops of the stuff. There are slivers of sharpness breaking through though, with citrus and that nutty edge once more. The smoke, again, is remarkably together and well-behaved. No recreational pleasure-herbs are present.

Palate

Not as sweet as it threatened to be, which is a good thing. There’s enough wood spice and tingly, tangy orange and lemon sweet-yet-sharp citrus to keep things alive. The black pepper is there once more, but the foundation here is much more of that estery fudge and fruit I was expecting in The Original, it makes what could have been a sweetie bomb much more palatable. All very modern in profile though, not a bad thing but, you know, lots of oakiness. No way this is 35ppm in the glass.

This has opened up in the bottle. On first approach I liked this the least, yet this evening it’s actually quite beguiling for £50. It’s just jumped to a 6.

Score: 6/10

Review 3/3

Meikle Tòir, The Sherry One, 48% ABV
£50 and wide availability

This one dodged the virgin chinkapin and instead found its way from the American oak to ex-Pedro Ximénez and oloroso wood - specifically big fat puncheons.

Nose

Burnt orange peel and maple cured bacon. A little soy sauce. Dark chocolate, dried cherries and waxy, red apple skins. Water brings the nutty element once more, only this time it’s definable as a sweet honey-roasted peanut thing.

Palate

That chocolate is here, but it’s creamier; milk chocolate, Terry’s chocolate orange even. Not as savoury as the nose suggests but there is a savoury element there, it’s like a little soy sauce has been splashed in. Curious. Stewed strawberry too, but remarkably the least sweet of the three. The smoke is ever-present and full, heady and aromatic, but I maintain it’s part of it all, rather than the occasional Islay-esque peaty face-punch. If it’s 35 PPM in the bottle I’ll be shocked. It plays like 10; much bigger than Highland Park or Bowmore, not close to Laphroaig, Ardbeg or even Lagavulin. Closest in profile to Ardmore maybe. Makes sense.

Once more I’ll admit to this jumping a point in score since I first wrote my notes a few nights ago. Glad to have it.

Score: 6/10

The Dregs

For the sharp-eyed among you, you can already see by the tell-tale levels in the bottles which is my favourite. Aye, cutting down on the fancy stuff is the way to share what’s going on in Billy’s amber-lit lab of whisky creation after years of dizzying, but necessary, cask play. The whisky they inherited is widely regarded to have been a child of neglect.

Despite my ever-so-boring scores here, my favourite remains The Original. Returning to it after the others brings a vibrance and a searing, clean, sharp edge that’s kinda fun. The herbal note is amped though; I’ve had that marijuana note before but never this pronounced. It’s fun to chase it in the glass and a wee thrill when it triggers.

I do have a worry here that three sixes for the scoreline will have you all thinking these are drive-bys. They are not.

They are firm, full, dense, round and solid takes on malt whisky from a distillery that has literally been saved. What was once perfunctory and dull to the point of actually, truthfully, boring, is now vibrant and exciting and genuinely pointed to everyone that gives a crap about whisky.

It makes sense that, at five years old, they would lead with a peated line up and, on reflection, I can see why they would push these out as four toes-in-the-water all at once, under a new brand. Why make a ripple when you can make a splash, right? And, if they do it under a brand new name, we can view it as something new, which it is, rather than something revived.

Because that’s saved for the Glenallachie itself. That’s when it’ll get really exciting; when Billy’s latest ‘revival’ breaks ground. We’ve a while to wait yet I suspect, but unlike Wally, you can bet he won’t hide, rest or suffer distraction until he’s got things over the line.

In the meantime we have a salvo of young yet remarkably mature, rock-solid, much-better-than-average, modern, smoky whiskies presented perfectly at, in the context of new whisky, a pretty decent price.

I doubt any of you who have picked these up so far regret it, I certainly don’t.

Despite my dull scores.

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

Other opinions on this:

Malt

Whiskybase (The Original)

Whiskybase (The Chinkapin One)

Whiskybase (The Sherry One)

The Whisky Friend (The Original)

Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.