Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Allt-a-Bhainne

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Allt-a-Bhainne
Allt-a-Bhainne Distillery
Glenrinnes, Dufftown
Banffshire AB55 4DI
+44 1542 783 331
Owner: Pernod-Ricard
Creation date: 1975

Photos

The distillery has been founded in 1975 by Seagram (Chivas and Glenlivet group) to produce whisky needed for the blends of the group.
The first distilling took place in 1975, and the production capacity has been doubled in 1990.
It is a hi-tech distillery, and the whole process is conducted by just one person. This is possible because everything in the distillery is situated on the same level.
When the whisky is distilled, it is transported by tanker lorry to warehouses in Keith where it is transferred in casks and matured.
The production is used for the blends of the group: Chivas Regal, Passport, Something Special et 100 Pipers. It is not marketed as single malt, with some rare exceptions, like Ian McLeod who sells it.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

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 Allt-a-Bhainne: independent bottlings
 

Allt-A-Bhainne
Dun Bheagan
17 years
Age
 17 years
Alcohol
 43°
Cask
 Bourbon
Bottler
 Ian McLeod
=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
 Allt-A-Bhainne Dun Bheagan
 
For a distillery which has been created just to provide blenders of  raw material, this single malt is really amazing. A rather strong smell (I hesitate to characterize it, heather?), followed by a pleasant palate feeling with hints of humid undergrowth (or is is peat?) . A rather complex taste, different of other malts from that area is followed by a lingering finish. An surprising excellent bottling, to put in the category "I love it or I hate it". Personally I love it. This bottle certainly deserves a try...

The nose is suite complex and marked by the cereal and some undergrowth notes (heather?). The palate confirms the nose, with a kind of chocolate flavoured background. A nice finish as well, lingering with some malted and woody touches.

The nose is marked by quite an unpleasant smell which recalls me the old powder insecticides which were used when I was a young boy... More seriously, hints of yeast and some acid hints.
The mouth is rather poor. Relatively flat, with some quite tasteless acid notes.
The finish is relatively long, without special character neither, dominated by some tingling and an impression of alcohol.
Quite strange... Was this bottle the victim of aeration? Anyway, this blind tasting results are strange when compared to previous notes, they seem to relate to another whisky... Strange. Another blind tasting will probably decide.

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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
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click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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