Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 49.7%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon hogshead and ex-Islay
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Chapter 7 Whisky
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: chapter7whisky.com
Vote: 87/100
There aren’t many Allt-A Bhainne bottlings around, all independents given the distillery’s subservience to the Chivas Brothers, and for the Swiss bottler this is the second cask to end up under his label, after a 19 year old in 2014.
August 2008 cask put into 169 bottles in April 2021, not at cask strength, after spending some time maturing in an ex-Bourbon first fill cask from Caol Ila.
On paper, very intriguing.
Tasting notes
The nose is tropical fruit juice with a soft heart of toffee, bouquet of flowers and a hint of cinnamon. Deep down, a layer of wax and nuts emerges, counterbalanced by a slight roughness at the back. Candied orange. Deep and three-dimensional.
It’s in the mouth that you find the impressions of Islay, which unobtrusively express a puff of smoke and vegetable peat, accompanied by a thread of salt that prepares for the sip. A hint of spice (pepper and ginger) on juicy fruit (again tropical with peach and pear), almonds, roasted coffee beans and chestnut honey. Balsamic afflatus on burnt grass.
The finish is quite long and saline, with nuts, spent cigar, spices and toffee.
Entertaining, unpredictable, profound: a surprise in every sip, a fine work between finishing and choice of alcohol content that has really made this distillate shine, demonstrating a vitality and complexity that is the envy of much more noble cousins.