🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

Glenallachie generally bottles interesting casks for their festival bottlings and while they're not cheap they also don't completely take the mick - something we have to applaud them for. The 2025 version is a very interesting bottling because of the use of Japanese oak called Mizunara - a type of wood that is very popular in Japan (obviously), and in recent years also in the American bourbon/rye/single malt scene, but still very uncommon in the Scotch whisky industry because it's difficult to find, difficult to work with and fairly expensive (and we know how the Scots tend to be as frugal as possible). In fact I don't think I've ever seen another single cask bottling in Mizunara oak before, so of course leave it up to Billy Walker and his team to bottle this one for the Spirit of Speyside festival. I had heard rumblings that this was first matured in sherry and then finished in Mizunara and even though I didn't verify this, it wouldn't surprise me given the smell and taste of the whisky. Speaking of which - the dram is very flavourful, and filled with notes you're not immediately used to in Scotch single malts. It packs a punch but it's not hot or astringent like some other Glenallachies can be. In short I think this is a very interesting one to put in a tasting for "experienced" whisky enthusiasts, as someone without much experience might just think it's a decent dram, without thinking twice about the type of notes they get. Also - this bottling shows how important it is for the industry and especially the SWA to ease up on the incredibly strict rules that are in place when it comes to wood policy. Mizunara isn't "traditional" in any sense of the word - yet this bottling is allowed to be released without any issues. Could the fact that Billy is actually part of the SWA be a deciding factor here? We'll probably never know (wink). Meanwhile, Glen Moray released a bottling during the festival that was finished in maple syrup casks and labeled it "spirit drink" because it couldn't be bothered to deal with the possible reaction from the SWA had they called it single malt. It just shows that not everything in whisky is as black and white as it might appear to be, which I find interesting. Regardless - the fact remains that for its own good, I feel the notoriously slow and traditional Scotch whisky industry needs to broaden its horizons if it wants to keep being able to innovate and, more importantly, stay competitive in a rapidly changing and currently slumping market.