The GlenAllachie has announced the launch of its first blended Scotch whisky, White Heather 21 Year Old. The new limited-edition offering is a small-batch blend with a high single malt content crafted by Speyside brand‘s renowned master distiller, Billy Walker.
To create the GlenAllachie White Heather, Walker harked back to his early days in the whisky industry at Hiram Walker, where he first practised the art of blending. He sourced single malt and grain whiskies from the Highlands, Islay and Speyside, which spent 18 years maturing in a combination of first-fill American barrels, sherry butts and second-fill barrels and hogsheads.
Walker crafted the final recipe – which includes some vintage GlenAllachie – in the GlenAllachie Distillery lab, then laid the blend down for an additional three-year maturation in a mix of Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso puncheons and Appalachian virgin oak casks.
“This whisky is particularly close to my heart, said Walker. “Creating this blend took me back almost 50 years to when I started my career at Hiram Walker. It was there I started to learn the art of blending and the specialist skills required to select whiskies that when interfaced with each other ultimately amplified the overall flavour experience.
“With White Heather, I poured everything I’ve learned on my whisky journey into crafting a truly memorable small-batch aged blend that sits proudly alongside even the very best single malts. I wanted to honour the original blend whilst recreating it in a much more premium form with exceptional wood. It’s a fine balance bringing together the character of such different whiskies and cask types, but I’m incredibly proud to now unveil the end result.”
Bottled at 48% ABV, just 2,000 bottles of the GlenAllachie White Heather 21 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky will be made available worldwide through specialist retailers for the price of £120 ($165 USD) per bottle.
In November, GlenAllachie launched Batch 4 of its 10 Year Old Cask Strength Whisky, along with the third installment of its single cask bottlings. All seven releases are limited editions. Earlier that month, the distillery unveiled a 21 Year Old Cask Strength Whisky. The limited-edition cask strength expression is Batch 1 of what is expected to be a new annually released Whisky that hit shelves around Christmas.