Tonight I was at Surrey’s Skye Avenue Lounge, seated amongst the city’s largest whisky collection. Here, for a special whisky paired dinner featuring GlenAllachie.
We heard about the history of the distillery and their future plans from brand reps. Here is the gist of it summarized, as take from their website.
“GlenAllachie was designed by William Delmé-Evans – the architect behind Jura, Macduff and Tullibardine. It was built in 1967 by Mackinlay McPherson, the distilling arm of brewer Scottish & Newcastle.” In 2017 Master Distiller, Billy Walker led the purchase of The GlenAllachie Distillery near Aberlour in Speyside. After assessing the procured casks of Scotch from their warehouse, he released a special bottling of limited edition whiskies, as his first product launch.
“Having sampled an extensive selection of the distillery’s 40,000 casks, Walker identified six casks that have been bottled to mark the 50th anniversary of the distillery’s maiden production run on February 17th 1968. The single cask bottlings are being released ahead of the launch in June of the full GlenAllachie range, which will mark the first time they have had their own cohesive identity as a brand.
GlenAllachie is known for their heavily sherried expressions, especially the 12 year which was named Best Single Malt in the World at the World Whisky Awards. The 10 year old has also previously won the Best Single Malt in the World award, on top of Best Whisky Overall at The Whisky Explorer Award.
Our tasting started with the Glenallachie 12 year old. I got a buttery, candied caramel on the nose, making it a memorable sweetness. This was an easier start, despite the higher ABV, and humorously described as a “breakfast whisky”. It warms going down. They claim that this is no different to what they have been doing years before, and will be continue doing years to come.
We were advised to drink in the order presented, but that our whisky tasters were not specifically paired with any one dish, but would be complimentary to the food overall. I still would work my way through each glass and each course, simultaneously as there were 6 glasses and 6 plates.
We started with two amuse bouches. The first a Basil Profiterole. The pastry was dull and ashy in line with the lemon and herb flavoured, chalky cheesy filling that had the texture of a devilled egg’s yolk.
Vol-au-vent is a hollowed out puff pastry. This version was vegetarian with a mushroom and salted cheese pate. It had a bold umami flavour which relied on the richer whisky to cut into.
Glenallachie 10 year, Batch number 1 versus Batch number 11 was our second and third tasters, done laterally. Cask Strength Batch 1 was bottled on June 2018 at 57.1%. The most recent, Batch 11 was at a 59.7% and recorded as the highest. Both were aged in ex-bourbon casks, then Sherry virgin oak and red wine. The difference between the two was time, time spanning 8 months. It showed more influence and what a good maturation journey can do, which was visible in its colouring, and spoke to the evolution of the spirit. This was the first time in their history that they have done a lateral tasting like this.
For Batch 1 got honey and nut on the nose, and toasted almond on the palate. It was sharp to open, and was best with a couple drops of water to dilute and to allow the whisky to breathe.
As expected, Batch 11 had a richer body with woodsy notes on the nose. I got a layered collection of torched caramel, toffee, coffee, cinnamon, and ginger.
Much like the last course, I found the richness of the Brie cheese dip with nuts, complimentary to the two cask strength whiskies above. The caramel notes of the whisky balanced out the sharpness of the cheese dip with its sugars, and heightened the sweetness of the apricot gel. I especially enjoyed the crispy toast sticks. They had the texture and crunch of a crouton and were a great scoop for the dip, which was creamier and a lot more fluid than I expected of a cheese.
From rich and savoury to light and citrusy with this Crisp green salad. I didn’t make out much of the vinaigrette past the raw cucumber and tomato. It was uninspired, and used as a wash. A palate cleanser to bridge the more potent cask strength selection back to age statements.
Glenallachie 18 year old was nutty with toasted peanut on the nose, which then evolved on to nut butter to the palate. This was a nice transition out of the cask strength, and smooth by comparison. The 18 year is only bottled once a year. Our whisky maker believed that its occasion should be special, and that is what they have done here. This was recommended as a post dinner whisky during winter at 46% ABV, this is a slightly higher than the typical 43% to avoid being stale. It was suggested that we added water to this, to our tastes.
Here I got “Christmas cake in a glass” with warming baking spices like cinnamon, ginger, chocolate, mocha, and cloves. Its colouring is very reflective of its taste, with fruit and nuts to round it out.
Our next food course was a Smoked seafood chowder with plenty of salmon in scent and taste. Slick in oil and heavy with a velvety, creamy texture. The whisky helped to cut and refresh the chowder, whereas it was nice to have to coat the belly, sparing it from all the straight forward whisky we were drinking.
Here, we paused to hear stories of the distillery’s owner and some historic and comedic moments. Overall, I enjoyed the pacing of the event. Things went briskly to ensure that dinner kept within the advertised time frame. It also helped that everyone was on time and that I was the only one that was late by a couple of minutes.
Our next taster was the Meikle Tòir, which translates to ”big pursuit”. The name was a nod to Billy Walker and his endeavours. It was said that he has completed 90% of what he wanted to achieve in his lifetime, and is currently working towards the last 10%, which he himself realizes may never come to pass.
This is a smokey whisky that carries their speyside spirit’s personality thanks to peat from the Mainland of Scotland. This gives their whisky a different smokiness, having it stand apart from the west coast and Isla, much like what terroir is to wine. It has a campfire, cooked sweet bbq essence to it.
It paired well with the salmon in the chowder, but I found it not bold enough for the lamb I ordered below. The other entree option was a grilled salmon, that would have paired better.
Sous vide lamb with potato croquette and gnocchi. A great presentation, but I received the plate cold due to the group service. I found that the carrots needed more salt, and that the gnocchi was invisible amongst the other elements, despite it being the outlier with its cumin and curry flavour. The well prepared lamb carried the plate. The following whisky was a better match for the red meat, as well as the dessert.
Meikle Tòir, The Sherry paired well with the cake thanks to its fruity notes, finding the fruit within the cake. I got dark cherry, cocoa, and warming spices. It was prepared exactly the same as the original Meikle Tòir, but with 2% less ABV. It was also the younger of the two, at only 5 years of aging. The result was a sweet and smoky peat that doesn’t dominate.
Dessert was an Orange chocolate bar. Its mousse was so rich with plenty of cream. Created to be heavy and decadent, to be able to go toe to toe with the whisky. It also ended the meal nicely with crispy bits and fragrant orange zest.
In short this was a great was to learn more about Glenallachie in such a casual setting, coupled with food for balance.
Skye Avenue – Kitchen & Lounge
13450 102 Ave #190, Surrey, BC V3T OH1
(604) 590-0900
skyeavenue.com
