With well over 100 distilleries here on WhiskyNotes, we’ve still not covered all of them. Glenallachie is a young distillery (founded in 1967 by Mackinlay) in the Chivas Brothers group. In 2005 a 16yo official bottling was released in the Chivas Cask Strength series. Apart from this, there are a handful of independent releases.

This Glenallachie 1972 was matured in a bourbon hogshead. There’s now a new Glenallachie 1971 from The Whisky Agency in the same Perfect Dram series.

Glenallachie 38 yo 1972 (49,9%, Whisky Agency 2010, The Perfect Dram VII, 102 btl.)

Nose: starts fresh and fruity with lemon and a few waxy notes. Citrus and grasses, and a few fragrant floral overtones. Cotton candy! It’s not too sweet or overly fruity though, there are hints of wet newspaper that give it an old-style charm. Even a hint of glue? Very soft spices. Nice. Mouth: oily and remarkably fizzy. Lemon peel and lime juice. Citrus candy. Lovely waxy notes. Not overly complex but very fresh, not too far from certain Lowlands distilleries. Finish: drying but still very lemony.

A nice introduction to Glenallachie. Such freshness and 38 years old, really? Still available in some places. Around € 165.

Score: 86/100