I managed to get a sample of this PX cask GlenAllachie bottled for Denmark (thanks, GvB). Of course I didn’t write down all the details in time, which will show in the tasting notes…

It was bottled this year, and somehow it ended up in The Netherlands. Normally not too strange but with the extremely limited travel that happened it’s quite surprising.

GlenAllachie is belching out single casks left and right, for specific markets in batches of three or more. I believe there have been about ten available in The Netherlands over the last year alone.

Of course, Billy Walker is no stranger to doing this, since this was the modus operandi with GlenDronach and BenRiach too. I still have three others lined up for reviewing soonish.

Anyway, tasting notes.

Sniff:
Even though it’s a PX cask, there is a lot of vanilla. There are some tropical fruits present like banana and peach. A small whiff of straw, and some notes of oak.

Sip:
The palate is fairly sharp, with lots of oaky heat and chili heat. So fresh chili pepper, fresh oak. Again, there’s a lot of vanilla, with dryness because of the strength. Some tropical fruits like peach and some banana. Also some cherries. It’s quite sweet.

Swallow:
The finish shows the same as the palate. A surprising amount of vanilla for a sherry cask. It’s pretty long, but also pretty singular.

There’s so much vanilla that I would be very surprised if this was NOT from American oak (this turns out the be the case). The PX finish is very light, which gives some room for the spirit to come through, but the vanilla is a bit of a tyrant on the palate.

So, not a bad whisky by any means, but in the end it’s just too much vanilla for a higher score.

83/100

GlenAllachie 11, 2008-2020, PX Hogshead 2826, 55.5%, bottled for Denmark