Allt A Bhainne whisky

Allt-A-Bhainne is located in the Southern part of the central Speyside region, south of Dufftown and just north of the origin of one of the streams that feed the river Lossie. It was the fourth malt distillery built by Seagram's and like I already mentioned its main purpose was supplying malt whisky for the Chivas Regal blends. The single pair of stills was doubled in 1989. The distillery seems to be one of the most efficient distilleries in Scotland; I've been told a single person can run the entire distillation process. The logistical side of things isn't very traditional either; the fresh spirit is transported by large tanker trucks to Keith, where it is casked and stored for blending. Not very romantic, is it?

Well... Every dog has its day, so I suppose there could be some good
casks of Allt A'Bhainne lying around. That being said, when I write this
update of this profile (October 2009) I haven't found any. Out of the
six independent bottlings I've sampled so far, none managed to earn
a score in the 80's - i.e. 'recommendable' territory for malt whisky.

The name Allt A Bhainne (sometimes spelled as Allt-A-Bhainne or
Allt A' Bhainne) has Gaelic roots and means something like 'Burn of Milk'.
Ever since the distillery was built in 1975, its main focus has been to
supply malt whisky that ended up in the Chivas Regal blends. Oddly
enough, I do have a soft spot for some older Chivas Regal blends
(especially the Royal Salute!) but I really don't care for the single malts.

As you can see from the picture at the top of this page, Allt A Bhainne is
a fairly modern looking distillery - which is hardly surprising since it was built
as recently as 1975. The vents on the roof, depicted in the detail shot at
the right, are one of Allt A Bhainne's most distinguishing features. Most of
the other distilleries in Scotland have the typical 'pagoda' type roofs.

2001 - Pernod Ricard increased their involvement in the Scotch whisky industry by the purchase
of the Allt A' Bhainne, Braeval, Benriach, Caperdonich and Glen Keith malt whisky distilleries.
 
2002 - Not long after they shifted the balance of power in the Scotch whisky world by the
purchase of five malt whisky distilleries, Pernod Ricard mothballed the Allt A' Bhainne distillery.
They also mothballed the other four distilleries they bought, so I think it's safe to say that the
deal was motivated by competitive considerations, not so much by love for Scotch whisky...
 
2004 - After Benriach distillery had been silent for almost three years, Pernod Ricard sold
it to Billy Walker (formerly employed by Burn Stewart, Geoff Bell and Wayne Kieswetter.
 
2005 - The Allt A' Bhainne distillery was restarted again on the 27th of May 2005. In itself,
the resurrection of ANY malt whisky distillery in Scotland is a joyous occasion, but I can't help
but wonder why Pernod / Chivas chose Allt A Bhainne over Braeval (Braes of Glenlivet) here.

Actually, it's not that uncommon for (part of) the production of a distillery to be stored elsewhere for maturation. For example, only the casks that are destined for bottling as a single malt are stored in the warehouses at Laphroaig distillery on Islay. The casks that hold the whisky that will end up in blends (and independent bottlings) are stored in massive storage facilities on the mainland.
 
Based on my experiences so far I'd have to classify the product of Allt A Bhainne as mediocre at best. I imagine that up until now they simply haven't paid much attention to wood management at the distillery - understandable if you take into account that one single person has to manage the entire production process. Braeval (a.k.a. Braes of Glenlivet), on the other hand, has produced some beautiful whiskies in its time - and so has Caperdonich. A 'Craigduff' from Glen Keith was very good and the same goes for some peated bottlings of Benriach (which was fortunately reopened in 2004). The new ownership at BenRiach has been able to release some excellent malt whiskies recently.

But then again, perhaps the utilitarian look of the buildings fits the way in
which the vast majority of the Allt A Bhainne malt is used. Around 2005 the
management of Pernod Ricard decided to launch an attack on the premium
blends segment and for that they needed all the malt they could produce.

1) Allt-A-Bhainne's single malt whisky is still used in the famous Chival Regal and 100 Pipers blends.

2) The distillery was re-opened in 2005 after new owners Pernod Ricard decided to make Chivas Regal the number one premium blend in their whisky portfolio.

3) The freshly produced spirit of Allt A Bhainne isn't filled into casks 'on site'.
It is transported to a filling facility in Keith by lorries.

4) As you can gather from the notes so far, I'm not yet inclined to recommend Allt A Bhainne to anybody.
Not at this point anyway. It's a 'requirement' for anal completists like myself who want to try one or more expressions from each distillery in Scotland, but right now it seems like this malt is little more than an 'ingredient' for blends. Once again I suspect that wood management had a very low priority in the past. That may have changed with the new ownership and the restart, but it will be many years until the new product is on the shelves.

5) More trivia about Allt A Bhainne will be added later...
 

Allt-A-Bhainne 16yo 1985/2001 (50%, Douglas Laing OMC, 5cl)
Nose: Oy... Oily and a little bit sour. Old sweat. Stale beer? Then a hint of smoke emerges.
Something metallic. Veggy. Cheap white wine. Toothpaste. This is not my cup of tea at all!
Taste: Weak, flat start. Improves a little in the centre. Gritty, uninspired finish. Very odd.
Score: 56 points - A major disappointment, I'm afraid. Stewart Laing told me once that he and his brother sample everything themselves and stand by every bottling they release. It seems their noses are honed to perfection when it comes to picking out excellent Ardbegs, but if you ask me they made a boo-boo with this one. Maybe veganists will like this, but I can't imagine this ending up in any of the maniacs' top 10. Or top 1000 for that matter.

Allt-A-Bhainne 1989/1999 (50%, John Milroy Millennium Selection, oak casks, 70cl)
Nose: Oily and smoky. Sweetish. Eucalyptus. Tea? Rich; opens up even more after a minute.
The aroma grows 'fresher' over time. The slightly higher proof gives it a nice punch. Very likeable.
Taste: Malty. Slightly oily as well. Sweetish at 50%. Seems much 'thinner' when diluted, but still sweet.
Score: 77 points - I wouldn't go as far as actively recommending it, but it's quite pleasant, actually.

Allt-A-Bhainne 18yo 1980/1999 (43%, Signatory Vintage, Cask #19000, D22/10/'80, B11/8/'99)
Additional details: They produced 2450 botles - I wonder if they were all 5cl miniatures like this.
Nose: Very grassy, followed by soft menthol notes. Growing oiliness. Dentist? Metallic. Veggy.
Citrus? Yes, it grows fruitier with time. Not that 'likeable', but quite interesting, I must say.
Taste: Sweetish start. Fairly flat. Little development. Dull. Rough. Weak, bitter finish.
Score: 52 points - the interesting development in the nose keeps it (just) above 50 points.

Allt-A-Bhainne 12yo (43%, James McArthur Fine Malt Selection, Bottled +/- 1995, 75cl)
Nose: Strange! A bit chemical with a first impression of eucalyptus. Flowery? Lightly sweet.
A memory of peat. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but there is the slightest trace of peat.
Taste: Soft start. Sweet and malty. The finish is soft and short, almost watery. Needs more proof?
Not a lot of character on the palate, which is a shame because the nose is actually quite unique.
Score: 70 points - which is at the bottom end of the 'average' section on my Hit List - disappointing.
 

These were most but not all (official & independent) expressions of Allt A Bhainne I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most malts I've sampled and scored - but finding notes on a specific expression could be tricky. You might want to use the search box at the top of this page for that. The mAlmanac now contains personal selections of the best and the worst single malts I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value.

But those are all just my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 

2009 - Allt A'Bhainne is a relatively utilitarian 'volume' distillery that was founded fairly recently.
As a result, there are not that many charming little anecdotes to tell... To add insult to injury, I'm afraid that none of the expressions I've tried so far inspired me to make excessive tasting notes - which is not too surprising if you know that none of the six expressions I've tried so far ended up in the 80's. My favourite expression so far was a bottling by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - the Allt A'Bhainne 10yo 1992/2002 (59.4%, SMWS, 108.7) which scored 79 points. That's still below my 'benchmark' score of 80 points where I start to recommend whiskies to others... For now, Allt A Bhainne remains one of the very few active distilleries in Scotland I'm not inclined to investigate further.
Well, unless something special crosses my path, of course...