I’m trying to get back on our distillery sample group track again- I’ve been a bit distracted by lots of work, and overtime, along with buying a bunch of new bottles I don’t really have the time or money for. I believe I have a whisky spending problem. Anyway, I’m finally trying to get dialed back in to sampling. Up next, Speyside distillery: Glenallachie. This particular bottle is from Duncan Taylor’s Battlehill independent group. It’s a 7 year old example that’s bottled at a cask strength of 55% ABV. I don’t believe this one has added color and I think it’s non-chill filtered, as well. Inside the Glencairn glass it’s a deep, mellow gold and it looks quite oily. The nose started out with some overbearing notes like ex-bourbon cask: spicy, black pepper and charred oak. After some time and once it settled, the true maturation in sherry casks show up: sweet berries, dark raisin with a little bit of lemon zest. It’s still a bit of a mess because the notes all seem to be rotating through the glass and not connected. One minute it’s this, the next it’s something else. No harmony. The palate is predominantly youthful- spicy oak barrel and overly bitter. It’s oily, though, and that leads to the negative aspects sticking around too long. The mid palate turns toward toffee and roasted nuts, but it’s a bit late to the party and I’m really ready for this to end. The finish is short-to-medium and remains bitter until it leaves some orange marmalade and toffee hanging behind. Shrug. Overall, this one is too “all over the place” for me. The oily youthfulness causes flavors that you’d usually want to be masked to just stay put. That’s the biggest downfall here IMO. If this one just kind of did it’s thing and moved on I could overlook some of the faults, maybe blame it mostly on the spirit’s age, whatever. Thanks to @Generously_Paul for sending this one so we could take another step towards our goal, but this one falls short. 2.5 stars since I’m feeling a little generous. Cheers.