The GlenAllachie – 11 Year Old Palo Cortado Sherry Cask Finish (70cl, 48%)

This is an 11 year old Speyside single malt from The GlenAllachie, part of its Sherry Series. It is bottled at 48% (96 proof) in a 70cl bottle, at natural colour and without chill filtration. The whisky first matures in American oak ex-Bourbon barrels, then spends an extended second maturation in puncheons and hogsheads that held Palo Cortado sherry. That sherry combines traits of Amontillado and Oloroso, and here it adds fruit, spice, chocolate and nuttiness to the distillery's heather honey character. The nose is cinnamon, butterscotch, damson plum, heather honey, raisin butter and crystallised ginger. The palate offers toasted honeycomb, brambles, mocha, treacle and chocolate, and the long finish ends in dark chocolate, warming spice and a dry sherry note.