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The GlenAllachie Distillery in Scotland has legendary grasp distiller Billy Walker at its helm, who took it over from earlier possession in 2017 alongside some companions. Positioned on the foot of Ben Rinnes within the coronary heart of Speyside, one among Walker’s early targets was to develop a peated whisky for GlenAllachie. To this finish, in 2018, his crew laid down the primary casks of what, 5 years later, has turn out to be often known as the brand new Meikle Tòir (which means Large Pursuit) lineup.
As a part of this peated whisky focus, Walker used mainland peat from St. Fergus versus the extra well-known Islay peat. Mainland peat, fashioned from the breakdown of timber versus herbs and seaweed frequent to Islay, creates what he describes as “a a lot sweeter smoke fashion.” GlenAllachie is producing solely 100,000 liters of this alcohol yearly throughout simply six weeks every year.
Moreover, all Meikle Tòir expressions are subjected to a prolonged fermentation time of 160 hours – practically triple the trade common – which the Walker feels “provides a fruity, ester-rich character to the next whisky.”
“Each ingredient of the manufacturing course of was rigorously thought of to make sure our imaginative and prescient was met,” mentioned Walker on the time of this whisky’s launch. “It’s not about accelerating the journey; it’s about increasing the expertise. One of many key selections was to considerably lengthen the fermentation interval to 160 hours, creating thick, ester-rich distillate. One other was to make use of mainland peat, which delivers a extra oaky fashion of smoke. These decisions, together with using high quality oak casks, are all components steering us in our pursuit of peated perfection.”
The whisky I’m reviewing at the moment, Meikle Tòir The Turbo, is one among 4 making up this model’s core lineup. Aged for 5 years in a mix of three American virgin oak casks and 5 Oloroso hogsheads, this peated Scotch has a 50% ABV and a peat score of 71 ppm. It’s of pure shade and is non-chill filtered, priced at $75.
