Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 58.6%ABV
Ageing cask: Virgin American Oak
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: The GlenAllachie Distillers Co Limited
Average price: € 105.00
Official website: theglenallachie.com
Vote: 85/100
Chinquapin wood is a variety of oak that until recently was little known to most, but thanks to Billy Walker it has begun to circulate among enthusiasts, having been chosen for some of his distillery’s bottlings, soon followed by others such as Teeling.
A particularly porous wood that releases predominantly sweet notes, here we find it in a single cask version made for a Belgian shop with a June 2008 distillate that produced 258 bottles in January 2021, after just over twelve years of ageing.
Other twin cask versions dedicated to different countries were released during the same period.
Tasting notes
Soft and cuddly on the nose without being cloying, it combines fruity tones (peaches, apricots, blond orange, candied pineapple) and confectionery tones (banana bread, white chocolate, sugar icing) with mineral veins and wood shavings. Fruit jellies and marzipan peep among the aromas, in a balanced whole without the slightest alcoholic exuberance, very pleasant to smell for a long time.
Warm and spicy on the palate, with ginger, white pepper and aniseed paving the way for the jam that is even more massive here, a riot of white fruit and citrus accompanied by brown sugar, tobacco, herbaceous notes and wood. Less deep than the nose, but quite drinkable.
The finish is quite long and fruity with herbaceous veins, wood, spice and hints of tobacco.
A dram that would make any fruitarians happy, twelve years in such a charged virgin cask is a challenge that Walker’s distillate nonchalantly overcomes: it may not be unforgettable, but it shows fullness and character that other peers dream of.