GlenAllachie 15 Year

This has been on my radar for a bit and I got gifted a bottle to review (by no means full, lol). Nose - I'm already getting skeptical. Sweet sherry, overly oaked, and with this PX sweet candy thing that seems to contrast with harsh oak notes. Reminding me of some poorly executed Signatory single casks. That said the distillate isn't harsh,no off notes, and some malt character is coming through that seems to have a bit of meat and back bones to it. Taste - I'm not sure what I expect for 15 years. The sherry is very much that not great or really special sweet, slightly medicinal character. The alcohol is here and a ***** punchy. The mouth feel by contrast is a touch thin. Some figs and dates give way to hints of grape and chocolates. The malt reminds there but I can't separate the end of the oak, sherry, or malt. So how does it do vs balvinie 15 year? This isn't so dark and dusty bottle from some back cellar but it's likely an older bottle, and I did selected it based on being extremely dark. Still I don't think this is some early batch, and the barrel number is pretty high 4181. I'll leave the notes or review here and just say the nose is night and day better and while the taste does have some elements of harshness and it isn't some exceptional or perfect whisky, it's a much better combination of cask and malt. If you want a bit more bitter oak, sharp, and somewhat bitter yet clear sherry bomb notes like you'll often get on a signatory single cask, this is going to be a great value buy. If that isn't really what you're after then this will be a bit young and a bit aggressive without much reward. I'd rather pay more for the balvinie. 1.5 out of 5 but I want to stress that if you really like this profile you'll be at 2.5 and on my scale 2.5 is a very very high score on bottle going for around that 100 mark. I just I see some of these flavors as flaws and failings of the whisky, but I can just as easily see these are things people I know and respect seek out. 80 out of 100 and a 1.5 for me today. Effectively, this is the starting point for a whisky I'd enjoy enough to happily have a bar with friends before I'd decide the section wasn't good enough and I'd just get a beer. I think a lot of you however will enjoy this more and I can't by any means not recommend it. I'm just not going to recommend it either.

Very dark, copper, tea-like color - all natural apparently. On the nose, dark fruit stew, cola, molasses, Holsten Malt-like maltiness, and some faint hints of chocolatte peaking through. This smells like warm dessert - very appetizing. Tastes immediately like warm creme brulee all over the tongue and coating the walls of the mouth. The proof feels higher than 46%! The taste turns into malty bread and slowly morphs into sweet almond brittle and some tannin on the tip of the tongue. This tastes like a how a Highland Park should. Very pleasant, but a bit more one dimensional than I expected. Medium, oily mouthfeel that feels thicker than it is because of the sweetness. Lingering finish of pepper on the lips, but dried raisins on the tongue and on the exhale - must be the sherry casks. After a while, the whole mouth and nose feels like I've just finished a mug of sweet grass jelly drink.

Full body, copper color, silky, notes of orange, plum, dark chocolate, dry, woody and spicy finish.