Our Whisky of the Week is GlenAllachie 11 Year Old Palo Cortado Sherry Cask Finish.
Or, to give its full title: GlenAllachie 11 Year Old Palo Cortado Sherry Cask Finish – The Wood Collection 70cl Whisky.
A mouthful, sure. Whisky has always loved a subtitle. Particularly modern Scotch, where half of bottles sound like a prog rock album. Despite the naming clutter, this one is pretty straightforward. GlenAllachie meets Palo Cortado. Kinda says it all.
I’ve been sent a sample from Spey Scot, serial award-winning PRs now part of Muckle Media Group. There’s the disclosure, here’s the review.
The juicy details
This bottle forms the fourth chapter in The GlenAllachie Distillery’s Sherry Series, a project that explores how different styles of sherry cask impact whisky built from the same underlying spirit and maturation story.
Every whisky in The Sherry Series begins with maturation in American oak bourbon barrels. Then, a lengthy secondary maturation in one style of sherry cask. That way, you isolate and showcase what that particular wood influence contributes to the spirit.
For this release, GlenAllachie sourced palo cortado casks from its trusted bodega partners in Cádiz. They were then sent to sunny Speyside for the finishing period. The whisky was matured for a total of 11 years and bottled at 48% ABV, and is presented at natural colour and without chill filtration.
A new GlenAllachie cometh
Initial impression
All very sensible so far. And all very GlenAllachie. The story here is the style of sherry, palo cortado, arguably the most mysterious member of the family.
Born partly by accident in 19th-century Andalucía, palo cortado begins life like fino before the flor yeast unexpectedly fades away, shifting the wine into oxidative ageing. That sits it somewhere between amontillado and oloroso. It’s dry but rich, elegant but weighty, nutty but aromatic. The enigma of the sherry world. The Nicholas Cage of Jerez de la Frontera.
Here’s it’s a cask for finishing, or secondary maturation. There’s no official distinction between the two, and perhaps there should be. It’s a bit of wild west, really, cask finishing. A lot of them feel designed backwards from outlandish profiles and tasting-note bingo cards. Whisky made by people who need the cask to carry the sale. Spectacle over education. Brash rather than subtle.
The Sherry Series, by contrast, has a simple angle. Come compare, contrast, and learn. It’s whisky for drinking and sharing and discussing, instead of merely photographing beside expensive watches. Not every bottle needs to reinvent Scotch whisky. Sometimes it just needs to understand what makes it good in the first place.
Palo cortado is the key here. Let’s get into it.
The review
On to the tasting. I want to see the palo cortado influence. But not so much that it bulldozes the distillate into submission. Nothing austere or overly woody. And, at first, we’re in that territory a touch.
You get walnut oil, cocoa powder, old oak, burnt orange peel, dried fig, and espresso bitterness. Then there’s the GlenAllachie underneath it all. Heather honey, soft orchard fruit, malt richness, and cinnamon warmth. They pulse through the whisky with the 48% ABV adding some weight.
Yet, it’s with a little water that I really get into it. The texture becomes oiler, like waxy orange and almond skin, and all this glossy GlenAlly fruit pours out among bright honeycomb and soft leather. Very pretty palo cortadoness is a lovely thing.
I know that now. I learn a little bit more about palo cortado everytime I sip. GlenAllachie, too. And I had fun. Isn’t that what’s is all about, children? If there are any children here, incidentally, go to bed.
Overall: good stuff. Have a tasting note. And do come back next time. We’ve got a real star for the upcoming Whisky of the Week.
We like it. What do you think?
GlenAllachie 11 Year Old Palo Cortado Sherry Cask Finish Tasting Note:
Nose: Charred orange skin, cinnamon pastry, butterscotch, damson, and crystalised ginger. There’s a bit of burnt rubber before you add water and bramble berries, vanilla, and white chocolate.
Palate: Fizzy oak tannins grip around your tongue and layer notes of plum sauce, cherry, mocha, burnt honey, and allspice. Water gives us toffee apples, peaches, runny honey, sultana, salted nuts, marmalade, and a little liquorice.
Finish: Rich, sweet fruit and clove on the finish.
