Whisky : Glenallachie 9 Year SMWS 107.13 “Andalusian gazpacho”

Country/Region : Speyside

ABV : 65.0%

Cask : Refill Ex-Oloroso Butt

Age : 9 Years (Distilled 26 Aug. 2008)

Nose : Sweet caramelized sugars— rich toffee, peanut brittle, and praline cookies.  Cutting through the sugars is a lovely balsamic vinegar, pickled olive juice, and the sweet skin of a Spanish ham.  The nose is thick, chewy, and wonderfully robust.

Palate :  Big and bold, the flavors of sweet tobacco, sweet pork, and a summer-fruit brandy assault the palate.  But it is not a mean assault, it is a bit of role play and all in good fun.  Cutting vinegar clears the sugars and the melting fats leaving sweet paprika spice on the palate.  Raspberries and strawberries reassert themselves near the end giving this dram a lovely transition from savory-sweet to vinegar to fruit at the finale.

Finish : Lovely lingering fruits and with a bit of dry spice.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Sniffing the Ham.

Something Better : Glen Ord 9 Year SMWS 77.57 (similar summer fruit, waxier body, more complex)

Something Similar : Ardbeg Grooves (similar pork and berries, bit richer, meatier finish)

Something Worse : Bowmore 12Y; Exclusive Malts (similar balsamic vinegar notes, more petrol/smoke)

Notes : Bottled for the Spirit of Speyside Festival in 2018 this was a delicious mix of cookies, berries, rich balsamic vinegar, and sweet ham.  The flavors in this bottle were deliciously bold and assertive with different variations on sweetness vying for attention.  A bit of water calmed the dram down a little bit and brought forward some of the sweeter spices and fruity brandy.  This was excellent; a lovely bouquet of strong flavors that complimented one another and a viscous oily quality that really gave you something to chew on.

At the blending/cologne workshop this dram was matched up with ‘amber & patchouli.’  I am not sure I quite got there— maybe some of the tobacco leaf notes were almost vaguely in the patchouli neighborhood, but to be completely fair I am not sure I would even know what patchouli smells like.  I am fairly certain it is a scent that I have catalogued in my mind as the smell of a ‘nice department store.’  The kind my grandparents might have taken us to when we were young to get a nice outfit of church clothes or maybe nice shoes.  Those days were vaguely torturous— I especially hated trying on shoes— but the memories are precious.

This dram did not quite take me down the same road of nostalgia that I think patchouli sign posted, but it did remind me strongly of a sweet cured Spanish ham.  The initial blast of flavors were of melting fat and sweet pork— but there was no salt or meatiness to really bring the ham home.  There was just that initial jolt before berries and fruity balsamic notes rushed in.  Another satisfying Glenallachie.