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Whisky Festival Season: A Visit to The GlenAllachie
Today we were lucky to be amongst the first whisky fans to take part in the brand new GlenAllachie Warehouse Drams experience, launched during Spirit of Speyside 2026. GlenAllachie have become very well known for their innovative casks types used during maturation of their whiskies so this was an exciting opportunity to get up close and find out more from the team.
We're greeted by Andrew at the distillery as we're taking a quick whirl through the production areas before heading on to the warehouse. Here we get a chance to see the the still house hard at work where we learn that they deliberately keep production levels low, focussing on a quality spirit under the guidance of Billy Walker. He purchased the distillery from Pernod Ricard where the spirit was predominantly destined for blends within their portfolio. But since 2017, things have been done a little differently. They're producing a million litres of spirit, compared to the four million that the equipment could produce. They have extended their fermentation time to help develop the character of the spirit. We are given a small dram of the new make, allowing us to see what Billy and the team are starting with before the cask magic happens. It is rich and a little biscuity in style; we're excited to see how the different casks impact it.
As we're guided through the site, we have a chance to peep into the warehouses along the way. Here the casks are patiently maturing in the Speyside sunshine (well it's sunny today) as we make it to warehouse 16, where we'll be tasting a selection of carefully chosen casks. Whisky fans who have been to other warehouse experiences will recognise the set up. We gather around a tidy row of casks, eager to taste the whiskies which will be drawn directly from the casks.
There are 4 casks to sample today. Andrew talks us through maturation and different casks types before putting us to work to guess what casks are in front of us as the drams are poured. It's a varied and interesting selection, as you would expect from GlenAllachie. There are two type of sherry; a Pedro Ximinez and an Oloroso. GlenAllachie is probably best known for being a "sherry bomb" under Billy Walker's guidance and these two don't disappoint! The PX is particularly impressive for a 6 year old whisky. It's really rich and bold. Imagine black cherries, chocolate coated ginger and raisins. We're fans of it. There's also a 15 year old which is in a Ruby port pipe - the largest of the casks we're trying today. The other cask was a 1st fill Scottish Virgin Oak barrel. The whisky inside is 13 years old and still a punchy 60%. None of our group correctly guessed this cask type, but it's very unusual, so I think that's forgivable.
All of the whiskies we try in the warehouse have an interesting maturation story behind them, as you would expect from GlenAllachie. It's one of the things that attracts me to this distillery and their whiskies. There's a real art to taking whisky from one cask and putting it into another to mature further. Some of the casks had whiskies which had passed through two or three different casks types before we tried them in the warehouse and Andrew was able to give us the full story about them. The Virgin Oak cask contained whisky which had started its life in a 3rd fill Bourbon barrel before being moved into an Oloroso hogshead and then into the Virgin Oak, where it had been for three years so far. All of these changes allow more complexity to be developed into the whisky as it ages.
Finally, we return to the visitor centre to soak up some of that precious sunshine and the opportunity to have two drams outside. We're treated to the two whiskies which are the handfills available in the shop. They're big and juicy sherry drenched drams. Here you have the opportunity to hand fill a bottle yourself from specially selected casks. I really like being able to purchase something which isn't available anywhere else, it's nice to have a memento of your trip. Warehouse tastings are always fun and you know that next time you come to the distillery there's a good chance the casks will all have changed, making it a new experience every time. Knowing that GlenAllachie has literally dozens of different types of casks to play with, it's an experience I look forward to coming back to.
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