Allt-á-Bhainne is a fairly new distillery, opened in 1975, but has already been mothballed once in its young lifetime. It is foremost a working horse for Chivas' blends and nearly all of its output goes into blending. Not many IB's shows a great interest for Allt-á-Bhainne either, but they James MacArthur's have had a few, and all in this session derives from them. So, I'm not tasting only one single distillery in this session, but also one single IB. Personally I think Allt-á-Bhainne can be great and I've had one or two of real excellence. Please notice that the whiskies in this session although all young, represents two decades of distillation.
Allt-á-Bhainne 12yo 1981-1993 43% James MacArthur's Fine Malt Selection
The only one below 50%abv in this session. I think this should be interesting as since there are no OB's from Allt-á-Bhainne, most of them are bottled at CS, and I believe this is my second only ever diluted Allt-á-Bhainne. Nice golden color. It smells light, blend, vodka, salmi, frying oil, laurels, grassy, onions, rubber, spirity. The taste is light, white wine, wheat pastry, coconut, apple, sweet and light stuff.
Aperitif whisky: 4.5
Allt-á-Bhainne 12yo 1981-1993 57.9% James MacArthur's Fine malt Selection
Rather a big jump from 43%abv, but same vintage, let's hope for a bit more punch in this one. The color is pale straw. It smells oaky, coal, lamp oil, spirity, ammonium, chlorine, strange and quite raw. The taste is bitter, potato starch, rubber, salmon, butter, egg yolk (liquid substance), some bitter notes of weed and perfume.
Short notes for a kinda short whisky: 4.5
Allt-á-Bhainne 11yo 1996-2007 56.9% James MacArthur's Old Master's
A more modern version perhaps? Matt golden hue. It smells strong, peppery, chili, bitter, kräuterlikör, licorice, drying, a much more pungent spirit, much to my liking so far. The taste is sweet, honey, coconut, strawberries, elderflowers, syrup, sweet'n'sour sauce, mango, bananas, gingerbread, walnuts, almonds. The taste is leather, tobacco, licorice, dark chocolate, bitterschnapps, jägermeister, great stuff. I have never tried another whisky with such excellent licorice taste. For that alone it's worth 7+. The finish salty and minty, and kinda short. A great sherried whisky is my guess!
Great whisky, but very unusual: 8.5
Allt-á-Bhainne 10yo 1995-2006 58.9% James MacArthur's Old Master's
Last one was a great surprise in this session. The color is white wine. It smells peppery, spirity, oaky, lacquer, ginger, onions. The taste is peppery, licorice, honey, ginger, cigars, leather, sweet, kräuterlikör, wonderful again! I'd say this whisky is very consistent as long as you try same or neighboring vintages. Giving this another score than the 11yo would be like splitting hairs.
Once again a great and unusual whisky, bitter licorice: 8.5
Next tasting: Blair Athol Distillery
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