GlenAllachie 15 Year

The font on the label for the name of this scotch resembles something you might've seen on a travel brochure to the Pacific Islands, or on a menu in a Hawaiian luau. Quite exotic. Contrasting the name, more official lettering affirms that the opaque whiskey contained is "natural color" and "non-chill filtered" at 46% ABV. All great marks to start with. I continue to read that this is "From the Valley of the Rocks". So that's what Glenallachie means in Scots Gaelic? (I don't know about you, but if I were in Scotland I'd think twice before saying 'Ala-key' every time I meant 'rock'.) The lettering of the name now brings to mind Flintstone Chewable Vitamins, marketed for kids in the United States... Exotic, bold, and not easily digestible to my smooth brain. Off with the cork! And to my relief it is natural and not synthetic as the name font might've presaged. I nose it and there's no sign of the metallic, fruit juice powder that I associated with Flinstone Chewables as a young scamp. Instead what wafts from the glass is rich and rewarding. I will defer to @Jose-Massu-Espinel for his review and expert nose. "Old orange peel, [dark] dry cake, various citrus... and grapefruit. So fruity, so piercing, various fruit pulps and peels... Dates and raisins... After the first sip it revealed lemon... Vanilla cake and Cookie dough." What a fantastic nose (and thank you, Jose). The palate follows up with what's promised in the nose. Red berries, black cherries, sweet prunes, a hint of orange peel, dates, and wood resin. Then these notes liquefy and go down with a teaspoon of raw cookie dough shot through with a chocolate chip here and there. The spice rides along the sweet notes like the sensation of a rising layer of heat, that then leaves the tongue leathery and tingly. It ends with the dark fruit sweetness counterbalancing some bitter wood notes. This feels older than 15 years. Subsequent dips in the nose reveal toffee and caramel. Further sips elicit a deep raisin flavor you get with freshly baked raisin bread or cinnamon rolls. There's no question the maturation in Pedro Xímenez casks steals the lime light here. While this is darker in both nose and palate than the Glendronach 15, there's a syrupy boldness to this that contrasts the latter's overall rounder, smoother qualities with its sherry notes masterfully rendered with Christmas cake depth. They are different, but it's oh so difficult to say that one is better than the other. Is this a sherry bomb? Among my favorite so far; the sweet vestiges of the finish linger on until tomorrow. Is the Billy Walker imprint recognizable in both Glendronach and Glenallachie expressions? I'm inclined to say, I don't know. On a cursory glance, both distilleries specialize in the best sherry bombs on the market. I'll be generous and just say both distilleries deliver in spades. This is awesome. But it's so decadent, I'd be hard pressed to immediately want a second dram of it. It's sort of like how I feel about eating dates. Usually two or three are my limit. Moving beyond that is self-indulgent overdrive. That this makes for a dessert scotch is a foregone conclusion (after all, how often do you re-order dessert?) It's a rich, delicious and unique take on a sherried expression that, in itself, is worth the price of admission. Automatic re-buy.

Nose: Dried fruit, dark chocolate, raisins Palate: Rum raisins, PX sherry, dark chocolate cherries, dried fruit. Oak/nutty. Finish: Milky mocha coffee, salted caramel, chocolate raisins, leather. Medium-long but very smooth finish. The overriding feeling throughout is of chocolate cherries with a little salt. Delicious!

My second Glenallachie, this time the older brother, the 15yo. (Previously ihad and loved the 12yo one). This one is matured in a combination of Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso Casks. Bottled at 46%abv, a nice chesnut color. On the nose, it is one of the most fruity drams i have ever perceived. Old orange peel, Dark dry cake; various citrus, green apples and grapefruit. So fruity, so piercing, various fruit pulps and peels. Agave. Dates and raisins. Its like nosing a fresh fruit salad. Lime. After the first sip it revealed lemon, Yeast, Vanilla cake and Cookie dough.  It smells like... speyside. The fields of speyside. It took me back there, ¡¡oh the memories!! On the palate it is super easy drinkable and incredibly smooth. Dark cake, Apples and Sider. Pepper grows after 5 seconds, but very mild. You can hold it easily forever in your palate. The second sip gave me lots of vanilla and Cookie dough. Super gentle. The third sip was all about the fanciest toffee note ever. Aftertaste is fancy and incredible. A little puff of Smoke, Hay. Beautiful spiciness; There is some mouth numbing, dry, after a copule seconds. Sweet and smokey, Vanilla and ashes. Lovely. Overall i truly believe this is a smoother dram than the outstanding 12yo. This one is way fruitier and fresh, while the other one was darker and the sherry influence was better. I can see why this whisky will be preferred over the 12yo, but not in my case. For me, it was very nice, but way too "Speysider". My score for it is a well deserved (and maybe a little harsh) 89 over 100. Good whisky.

Not enough sherry saturation. Too much spice. Bad.