Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 50%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon, ex-Rye and new
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: The GlenAllachie Distillers Co. Limited
Average price: € 50.00
Official website: meikletoir.com
Vote: 85/100
Preceded by a celebratory release for Billy Walker’s 50-year career, The GlenAllachie’s peated whisky made its official debut in a dedicated label in the second half of 2023, coinciding with the five years of maturation since the start of peated malt distillation in 2018.
Meikle Tòir (Great Pursuit) is currently composed of four bottlings, three with the same level of peat (35ppm) and one with more than double that (71%, the Turbo), with a working process that is in all respects similar to the GlenAllachie malt from which it distances itself in the choice of cut at the time of distillation, as explained by Walker himself in this interview.
I begin my exploration of this new label from the base malt, whose five-year maturation was divided between first-fill ex-bourbon casks, others that contained rye, and new American oak casks.
Tasting Notes
The nose reveals a fruity, pasty peat in which grilled fruit (peach, apple, pineapple), baked cream, honeyed candy, sweet liquorice and nuts (almonds, walnuts) intertwine with an intense, vegetal smoke of burnt brushwood with a hint of herbs. Also thrown into the mix are candied orange, lemon zest and a slight sour, lactic inflection of kefir. Alluring.
In the mouth, it brings forth coffee and cocoa accompanied by black pepper, ginger and a hint of cinnamon, with the smoke consistent and oily in its botanical (and woody) nature. Evocations still declined in the sweet notes of fruit and various creaminess, with liquorice, green apple, pineapple, nuts, crème brûlée, dried blood orange, and toasted malt.
Quite long finish of dull cigar, nuts, toasted malt, baked apple, candied orange.
A nice, clean peat, with character but without excess, drinkable but not banal. It can only improve from here.