The Glenallachie 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Speyside, Scotland

Single Malt Spirit, Sherry and virgin oak casks, and a dozen years in the Highlands equals magic.

The GlenAllachie Distillery sits on the Aberlour stream near where it empties into the River Spey. It was built there — less than a mile from the more famous Aberlour Distillery at the base of Ben Rinnes — in 1967 to produce Spirit for Scotch blends. It has been purchased, sold, mothballed, and opened again no fewer than four times since then. But in 2017, Billy Walker, Graham Stevenson, and Trisha Savage merged a few Whiskey brands and this under-utilized distiller gem to form The GlenAllachie Distillers Company Limited — now with a new core range of four Single Malt Whiskies in the Speyside style.

Twelve years is one of those Whisky-making sweet-spots. Single Malts just taste darn good when they’ve been left to rest for a dozen years. Why? Perhaps only the angels know for sure. What I can tell you is that The GlenAllachie 12 Year Old is their signature Single Malt Spirit aged twelve years — some of it in Pedro Ximénez casks, some of it in Oloroso casks, and the rest of it in virgin oak. The result is a big flavor profile leaning on vanilla and dried sultanas.