Allt-A-Bhainne 18 Year Old Malts of Scotland

I’ve never tasted a whisky from this Speyside distillery and that shouldn’t come as a surprise, since there are (as far as I was able to ascertain) no official releases. The only semi-official bottle is the 12 Year Old Deerstalker. So my first encounter with Allt-A-Bhaine will be through the independent bottler from Germany Malts of Scotland. By the way: Allt-A-Bhaine (sometimes spelled differently) is pronounced ‘olta-vayne’, with the emphasis on the second syllable.

The nose is fresh and sweet, with apricots and mint in the lead, but also some malt and oak in the background. Simple, but I like it.

He’s pretty creamy on the palate, but soon the sweetness turns bitter. I think of grapes and grapefruit. A bit sharp as well, with white pepper. Spirity, more than I expected from an 18 Year Old.

The finish is feisty, warm and long.

Allt-A-Bhaine was founded only in 1975 to produce for the blends 100 Pipers and Chivas Regal (no surprise as the distillery is owned by Chivas Brothters Ltd). This is a unique opportunity to taste this typical blender’s whisky as a single malt. It will set you back some 80 EUR.

Find where to buy Allt-A-Bhainne whisky