Origin: Orkney Islands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 53.4%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon, ex-Port
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Alistair Walker Whisky Company
Average price: € 130.00
Official website: www.alistairwalkerwhisky.com
Vote: 92/100
With this review, a new independent bottler lands – literally – on the blog: Alistair Walker Whisky Company, with the Infrequent Flyers label.
Son of the immense Billy Walker now at the helm of GlenAllachie, Alistair, after working for six years at Burn Stewart in the marketing department, followed his father to BenRiach in 2004, a decisive apprenticeship that ended in 2016 with the sale of the distillery to the Brown Forman group.
A year and a half later, on the strength of the skills he had acquired, Alistair embarked on the independent bottling business by founding the Alistair Walker Whisky Company, with the first release under the Infrequent Flyers label dated June 2018. The name alludes to the choice of bottling whiskies mostly from non-mainstream distilleries, which are difficult to find on the market but of great quality. These are always single casks offered in their natural colour and without chillfiltration, strictly cask strength, often after having been matured in very special woods (it is likely that the experience at his father’s side played a decisive role in this choice).
Today’s whisky comes from the usual ‘undeclared’ distillery in the Orkney Islands, was distilled on 26 May 2003 and was bottled at 53.4% ABV in June 2021, after a finish of unspecified length in a hogshead ex-Ruby Port.
For lovers of numbers, the release is No. 47 under the Infrequent Flyers brand, the cask of origin was No. 5747 and the result is 312 bottles now almost impossible to find.
Tasting notes
The colour is a mahogany that sends shivers (of pleasure) just by looking at it.
On the nose, after an entrance on notes of custard, zabaglione and milk chocolate, with a touch of cinnamon, it feels like being at the end of a family Christmas lunch, with the table still set: Hints of panettone but also of candied citrus fruit, hazelnut but also marron glacé, with someone, not far away, peeling a mandarin, someone else nibbling on some dried fruit (dates), and an old uncle with a beard or grandfather, who is turning tobacco over in his hands, while a wisp of smoke from an unlit chimney wafts into the room. To the nose, the evocative power of this whisky is truly incredible.
And it is no less so on the palate: after the peppery opening, hints of hazelnut, candied citrus fruits and custard accord with each other to give body to a seductive taste symphony, perfectly centred on the gradation level, with nuances of orange zest and milk chocolate. The smoky note appears more intense. As the minutes pass, an impression of strawberry cream gains space.
The medium-long finish is slightly spicy, with dried fruit, strawberry cream and a little smoke.
‘Extraordinary’ is an overused adjective, we are well aware of that. But in this case it is the only possible one, in its literal sense, to define a unique whisky, evidently unrepeatable, among the best we have tasted in our very modest experience as drinkers. We could not find a flaw in it even if we tried, and the only commitment we officially make is to make the bottle last as long as possible.
In a nutshell, really good this Scapa…