GlenAllachie 2000 18yr Cask #6248 52.5%

52.5% PX Hogshead - specially selected & bottled for The Whisky World

Review by Sean Russell, June 2020

The Whisky World is quite a young company, only being set-up in September 2016. But it is starting to become quite a prominent retailer, and is making a lot of noise. In their young life, they’ve already released quite a few exclusive single cask bottlings from some very well-known distilleries that bear their name. This GlenAllachie single cask is one such example.

Appearance: Polished Walnut. Long, thin & slow oily legs.

Nose: An initial explosive hit of raisins, honey, vanilla pods, and a slight balsamic sourness. It’s all held together with an aroma of rich sticky sweetness. There are alcohol fumes that prickle in the nose, but they’re not overpowering. Another, deeper inhale reveals nuts, more fruit, and a gentle malty-cereal note. Over-ripe macerated cherries appear in the background. Absolutely delightful and a prime candidate to just hold & inhale.

Palate: Beautifully sweet and oily with hardly any alcohol burn that the nose picked up. The sherry influence from the PX cask is huge, beautifully balanced with the Bourbon cask it lived in originally. It’s also accompanied by warming cake spice, maple syrup, vanilla (custard), light caramel, and a gentle woody bitter-bite.

Finish: Very long and sweet – but a balanced sweetness rather than a forced or artificial ‘over-the-top’ sweetness. The linger is there for a long time after the empty glass has hit the table.

Water adds... Don’t do it! This is a whisky that really doesn’t need any water whatsoever. The balance is bang on-point, and I personally think you’d lose a lot of the character and taint what has been created here.

Conclusion: Possibly one of the nicest GlenAllachie single cask bottlings I have had to-date. It epitomises what sherry cask – and not just that, but sherry-finished - whiskies can and should be like. Absolutely outstanding. If similar examples of this start coming out of the distillery on a regular basis at this sort of price-point then it’s a game- changer. Well done to the team at GlenAllachie and to the team at The Whisky World for selecting such a delicious example. Thanks to Abe for the sample.

Would I buy this? Absolutely. Available exclusively at www.thewhiskyworld.com for £149.90 at the time of writing.