Allt-A-Bhainne 1977 - 25 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 31521

Allt-A-Bhainne is a large modern Speyside workhorse distillery built in 1975 by Chivas Brothers during that company’s ownership by Seagram. The distillery’s spirit is a key part of the 100 Pipers blended whisky, among others. Pernod Ricard acquired Chivas Brothers in 2001 when Seagram’s business was broken up; Allt-A-Bhainne was mothballed the following year but reopened in 2005 and has been in production ever since. Today around a third of production is given over to peated spirit.

Allt-A-Bhainne has always been used to supply filling malt for blended whiskies and the first official bottling only appeared in 2018. Independent bottlings of Allt-A-Bhainne are relatively abundant, with the SMWS, Signatory Vintage and Gordon & MacPhail frequently releasing excellent bottlings.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.