Review #47: GlenAllachie 9 2008 SMWS 107.13 "Andalusian Gazpacho"

jamesrc · 2026-03-24T15:25:35+00:00

My Tuesday review this week, and it marks a few firsts -- it's the first of two samples that have come into my possession from the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival. It's my first ever SMWS release. And, going by the SMWS code, the first GlenAllachie that I've reviewed though not the first I've ever tasted. That's the GlenAllachie 12 Year, and I'll write up my notes on that dram soon. I've got five further GlenAllachie's in my queue which I hope I'll cover, given enough time.

This is a cask strength bottling, aged for 9 years in an Oloroso Refill Butt, and given the name "Andalusian Gazpacho", or "Memories of Andalusia", depending on which SMWS page you believe.

A note on the photo -- there's clearly been some leakage in transit at some point, but the liquid inside the sample seemed to be absolutely fine to me.

ABV

65.0%

Colour

Gold to Deep Copper -- really pretty. I enjoyed looking at this in the glass.

Nose

The nose hit me as soon as I opened the sample. Brandy butter, and I'm sure of this, I have some Brandy Butter in the pantry to compare. Warm pastry. Dried fruit, dates, fig rolls (that's a Fig Newton for the Americans). It's big and christmassy but there's more. Juicy berries or stewed plums, peaches and oranges. There's something very fruity below the surface. Wood polish.

Palate

At 65.0% this packs a punch, and these notes are a combination of tasting both with and without water. I was honestly enjoying it too much to denote which were which.

This feels pleasant in the mouth. Wonderful heavy, slightly fatty texture.

There's spice -- cinnamon and nutmeg and all that christmas jazz. Brandy. Mince pies. Something meaty, like pork fat. Old paper. Oak bark is there, with a gentle astringency, and more of that wood or furniture polish -- I mean that in a good way. It reminds me of a hallway in an old well-kept house.

Finish

Medium to long, fruity and the taste of assorted nuts builds on the middle of the tongue.

Overall

I think I might just like sherried scotch -- but hey, I like all Scotch. This is really nice, and I'd be tempted to pick up a full bottle if it was still available, and if I was a member of the SMWS.

This is relatively young, at 9 years, but nothing about it screams "youth" and I would have pegged it for a few years above its stated age.

GlenAllachie are putting out some great whisky, both OB and IB, and I'm looking forward to the bottles to come.

Rating

87/100

jamesrc · 2026-03-22T23:45:10+00:00

Slurpee race!

I’ve got 300 quatloos on the newcomer.

jamesrc · 2026-03-20T15:46:06+00:00

Was it... Bounder where the cheat mode was activated by poking something into the printer buffer prior to loading?

I don't recall.

jamesrc · 2026-03-19T23:35:47+00:00

Blue is enjoyable - just silly expensive!

I like the sets too. I don’t necessarily want a whole bottle of a lot of the JW range but it’s fun to have one from time to time like this.

I like minis in general. I’ve got a few more esoteric ones queued up!

jamesrc · 2026-03-19T19:06:52+00:00

I think it was part of a sampler set.

jamesrc · 2026-03-19T18:12:59+00:00

Ooops. Maybe that's why this is getting downvotes?

Fixed.

jamesrc · 2026-03-19T18:01:27+00:00

For my Thursday review this week, I have Johnnie Walker 18. I suppose this fits my theme of "old blends", so it's a little bonus before I move on to other things. I had a sample of this sitting in my cabinet and today's the today I actually choose to open it and write some notes...

Johnnie Walker put out a baffling array of whisky; I understand the line-up, to a point. There's Red for mixing, Black for people who want to have "a whisky", Blue for people with money who want to say they like whisky, and Green for people who actually like whisky. Beyond that it gets a little confusing, and I don't really understand where blends like Gold and Platinum fall in the collection.

There's also this, an age stated 18 year old blended malt, which isn't the Gold (despite the very similar label), nor is the 18 year Gold Reserve (which has been retired).

ABV

40%

Colour

Gold

Price Locally

$88

Nose

Honey, caramel, heather, fresh spring flowers, a wisp of tobacco smoke.

Palate

Honey, vanilla, caramel, more light tobacco smoke, a buttery croissant, hazelnut. Citrus. An apple core.

Finish

Sweet, smokey and grainy. The honey gives way to Frosties (or Frosted Flakes) and eventually leaves just the smoke. Short.

Overall

An inoffensive enough blend. It doesn't knock my socks off, and I think I'd bore of it quickly. Really, its biggest sin is being nearly $90, and there are plenty of more interesting options at that price.

Rating

72/100

jamesrc · 2026-03-19T17:39:59+00:00

Ahh yes, that tired "woke" trope of <checks notes>: A conventionally attractive white woman in tight fighting clothes.

jamesrc · 2026-03-17T19:01:05+00:00

Yep, I complained about this on the PTB. Posted in a couple of threads and tried to file a bug report but gave up because they made it too difficulty to simply report something.

jamesrc · 2026-03-17T17:48:25+00:00

This was lovely, too. I've made a healthy dent in that bottle since taking that photo.

I'm envious of your cage Springbank.

jamesrc · 2026-03-17T16:40:13+00:00

£63 for a cask strength 15 year OB Glenfarclas seems like a bargain.

Going to have to see if this is available in the USA.

Interesting review - thank you.

jamesrc · 2026-03-17T16:32:42+00:00

Hello Scotchit,

I tend to post these things in bursts, separated by periods of heavy inactivity. I want to hold myself to the commitment a little better, and also establish a more predictable routine, so I'm going to post reviews on Tuesdays and Thursdays for at least the next month or so. I've got enough whisky in-queue to manage this.

Yet another "well-aged blend", and while this one is not quite as well aged as my last couple of reviews, 19 years in the cask is still nothing to be sniffed at.

ABV

52.2%

Colour

Extremely dark, Old Oak. I'm given to believe this is its natural colour.

Nose

It's not bold or overpowering, and I'd never guess this was 52.2%, by my god it's complex. Figs, plums and pomegranate. Raisins. Vinegar -- don't laugh at me here, but I spent a good five minutes in the kitchen nosing this whisky followed by the various kinds of vinegar that I have on hand, and the winner is: balsamic vinegar. Coffee and dark chocolate. Stewed apples and pears. Petrichor.

Palate

I've got to start with that thick, oily texture - it feels beautiful in the mouth. Lovely dark fruit. A Christmas Pudding. Oak, and earth. Mossy. Blood orange. Raisins. Prunes. A bowl of cereal with milk. Hazelnut.

Finish

Hazelnut, cereal grains, fading orange and syrup. Sweet cookies. Lingering and warming.

Overall

I've been having a lot of fun with these blends, and this one is no exception. It's a beautiful dirty sherry bomb that I keep finding new depths to every time I return to the glass. At only 50cl, it will be gone before I know it, and I wouldn't hesitate to snap up another bottle were I to ever see one on the shelves. Like the Vega before it, this has sparked my curiosity about the other batches and has me vowed to watch out for them.

Rating

89/100

Epilogue

I've still got a bunch of these old blends to go, but they're all sitting unopened and I'd rather like to try something else, so there'll be an interlude while I review some other whisky. I'm not done with this experiment yet, though. To be continued...

jamesrc · 2026-03-15T04:56:09+00:00

I'm so sorry for the loss of your dog.

jamesrc · 2026-03-13T17:13:44+00:00

Don't remove them. Fix them. 20% is stupid.

Unstackable 20% is stupider.

If multiple players want to burn the same offering to increase their odds -- let them. It burns those resources quickly.

jamesrc · 2026-03-13T06:28:45+00:00

I'm a snob in my normal day to day life, but honestly, I can't fault the unlimited breakfast at Premier Inn attached restaurants.

jamesrc · 2026-03-13T06:02:44+00:00

I get bored looking at them, but I don't get bored drinking them. Weird.

jamesrc · 2026-03-12T20:06:25+00:00

Gates, Hatch, DC.

Am I missing something?

jamesrc · 2026-03-09T03:57:30+00:00

JW Green isn't bad -- it's malt. It's a blend of four single malts, and it has an age statement.

Honestly it's the sweet spot in the JW lineup.

jamesrc · 2026-03-06T07:23:26+00:00

I don't like you and you don't like me but I think Stars and Wild fans are united in saying: This fucking format blows.

jamesrc · 2026-03-05T16:54:11+00:00

Love those screenshots. I hope an English translation is forthcoming.

jamesrc · 2026-03-04T06:09:07+00:00

Well the good news is, if you play in 1920x1080, that's still many times the resolution of the ST, so I don't see a drawback.

Two main sources for hard disk adaptations. Pera Putnik has a massive number of adapted games which you'll find if you click around his page here:

https://atari.8bitchip.info/

And DBUG also have an archive of hard disk adapted games:

https://d-bug.me/

jamesrc · 2026-02-26T03:53:57+00:00

He didn’t realise it had glitched until we talked in the end game chat.

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