Glenallachie 12-year-old

Peach yogurt with caramel and mint! Also with butter, almonds, and grains.

2021-09-30

In the autumn of last year, I led the masterclass Glenallachie at the Czech Whisky Festival, which took place untraditionally at this time. I provided 5 tasting notes within it and in the end I also allowed myself to evaluate and organize them. Before that, I finally tasted them more than half a year after the tasting. It was a 10 cl sample, so there was more than enough material. Undiluted turned out as follows: 1. Glenallachie 11yo Grattamacco Wine Finish (WB182506) 2. Glenallachie 30yo (WB176604) 3. Glenallachie 13yo Rioja Wine Finish (WB182508) 4. Glenallachie 11yo Port Wood Finish (WB152144) 5. Glenallachie 12yo Sauternes Wine Finish (WB182507) After subsequent dilution with water, the order was slightly changed to: 1. Glenallachie 30yo (WB176604) 2. Glenallachie 11yo Grattamacco Wine Finish (WB182506) 3. Glenallachie 13yo Rioja Wine Finish (WB182508) 4. Glenallachie 12yo Sauternes Wine Finish (WB182507) 5. Glenallachie 11yo Port Wood Finish (WB152144) It was not my first masterclass Glenallachie and I have tasted more than enough samples from this distillery. With few exceptions, I was not very interested. For this reason, I was very pleasantly surprised by the 11yo Grattamacco Wine Finish, which was simply significantly different from the others. Along with 21yo (WB168872) and 1989 Cask No. 6121 (WB161721) probably the only one from the production of this distillery, for which I could imagine buying the whole bottle.

Nice oak and wine finish

Once again a successful malt from Glenallachie's Wine Series. The Sauternes brings great sweet and fruity notes, but also oak. The oak comes through clearly on the tongue and in the finish. You have to like that. I like the combination a lot. https://www.aboutwhisky.de/tastingnotes/glenallachie-12-years-sauternes-finish/

In the aroma, I find vanilla, spices, malt, barrel wood, the sweetness of ripe fruit, a hint of wine. Quite soft and ok, but that's about it. In the taste, I find fruity sweetness, vanilla and wine acidity and the acidity of unripe green apples. It gradually gets a creamy malty touch. But I can't get rid of those sour apples anymore and on top of that, the bitterness of the wood. In the finish, the acidity of the apples. It smelled nice to me, but the taste just didn't appeal to me. The first time I wrote it down and didn't give it a score, the second time (the next day) I agreed with the description and it didn't appeal to me anymore.

Time makes the nose better solid but nothing spectacular I don't need a flat surface

Sweet on the nose, toffee, biscuits, vibovit, after a while juicy apple, grapes, fruit candy. The taste is dry at the beginning and there is bitterness from the fruit skins, there is a slight pepperiness. Then it has a sweet, slightly astringent feel on the tongue. Finish medium long, sweet, hazelnuts

Nice sweetnes, not too much. Spicy woodnotes.

The wonderful creaminess of this whisky inspires me. I also like the interplay of sweetness and flavor. Only the bitter tone, which is actually quite subtle, is a little too clear for my sensitive taste in this regard. Otherwise an excellent drop for a fair price.

In my opinion, it doesn't really benefit from the wine cask maturation and might have worked even better as a pure exbourbon cask whisky, but it tastes quite good. 85/100.

It has too much oak in my nose. As a result, the fruit notes don't come through as much. This changes for the better on the palate. The finish is also decent. No repurchase for me because of the nose.

2021 Rating

Delicious sweet whisky, nice sweet sauternes finish

This GlenAllachie 12 Year Sauternes was all about the citrus. Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit brightness, which was fun, but it left me wondering, “Where’s the Sauternes finish?” It feels like this needs more maturation time with the Sauternes cask (it was less than 2 years), or they just got tired casks. It’s interesting, but my search continues for a real Sauternes cask infusion that stands out.

Took my chance on the Glenallachie 12 Sauternes, thanks to excellent advice at Slijterij Belfort in Sluis, NL. Very pleasant surprise, and was able to really distinguish notes as a Whisky beginner.

The nose is a bit closed at first; semi-dry white wine; slight acidity; light caramel sauce; few yellow apples; Apricot; some quince jelly; a touch of nashi... ...creamy start and dries straight away, I don't find much sweetness here; yellow fruit mix; sour pineapple; a little bit of oak; at the very back some white chocolate and almonds could also be there... ... it goes dry and woody; a hint of vanilla cream; n yellow mishmash, which I can't really define at the moment; medium to short without really leaving an interesting moment. Yes... well... but I'm missing something right now to put a bull in the shopping cart right away. Is very closed mmn. A bit edgy, I miss that smoothe here. Sauternes is definitely recognizable, but mom. not quite my goal.

This 12-year-old GlenAllachie with its finish in Sauternes barrique casks impresses with its beguiling aroma of ripe yellow fruits and a wonderful sweetness. By adding water, this is lost in favour of distinctly spicier and drier notes, so that it can be safely omitted. I thank The GlenAllachie Distillery for the complimentary sample! https://www.whisky-connaisseur.de/2021/06/09/glenallachie-12yo-2021-wine-series-sauternes-wine-cask-finish/

The spicy oak is just a little too dominant on the palate, otherwise the GlenAllachie 12 Years Sauternes Finish is a lovely sweet, fruity single malt.

creamy nose reminiscent of certain noses on a Moscatel finish, on another oxidative Amantillado the mouth starts with white peach fruits, with creamy caramel again, with honey afterwards very peppery return, on the dry core velvety, peppery and oxidative finish.