“Guided by revered Master Distiller, Billy Walker, our team is on a ‘Meikle Tòir’ (meaning ‘big pursuit’). The goal: To carefully craft and cask-perfect a peerless peated single malt at our Speyside home, The GlenAllachie Distillery.”
GlenAllachie started producing peated spirit in 2018. In the three-bottle series “Past, Present, Future”, the first ever peated release at 4yo represented the Future, with Past and Present 16yo expression with sherry casks and a Mizunara oak finish, respectively. The peated range of GlenAllachie is now marketed as Meikle Tòir. It is made with mainland peat and using a lengthy 160 hour fermentation. Is there promise in this future of big pursuits for GlenAllachie?
GlenAllachie (Meikle Tòir) • “Original” • 5yo • 50%
Scotch Single Malt • First Fill Bourbon, Rye & American Virgin Oak • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered • €50 • WB🔗
Tasting notes from a 3cl sample bottle
Nosing
Smoked cold cuts, burning wood, barn and hay, grapefruit, orange juice, peaches.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Sipping
Very dry, but not in a bad way. Woody and smoky (fresh cut wood, hickory smoke, acorns), hints of iodine and seaweed, slightly burned knäckebröd (Swedish hard bread). Fruitier notes too, with palate cleansing sherbet, some underripe nectarines that linger in a long smoky aftertaste.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Comments
Not at all bad, but I don’t think its quite up to par with, say, Ardnahoe 5yo which has a deeper taste at the same age.
GlenAllachie • “Future Edition” • 4yo (bott. 2022) • 60.2%
Scotch Single Malt • Bourbon, rye, and new oak casks • Natural Colour & Unchillfiltered • €115 • WB🔗
Tasting notes from a 3cl sample bottle
Nosing
Not as powerful as MK5 despite (or because of?) much higher ABV. Smoky – like a smoked cheese. Sandy beach by the sea – salty, iodine. More grapefruit, and vanilla than the MK5. Dried Provençale herbs, and a fresh touch of spearmint.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Sipping
Again, very dry, but there is a robust malty, and fruity base. Just a bit of vomit hick-up… aka peat phenols.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Comments
A showcase of things to come… In my opinion the MK5 is way better, so the price on this one could only be justified by the hype to try peated GlenAllachie for the first time back in 2022. And it ain’t 2022 anymore.
Not bad, there’s a nice level of peat and a robust spirit underneath. But I wasn’t that thrilled. I’d much rather be sippin’ the Ardnahoe 5yo.
DuckDrams 
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