Allt-A-Bhainne - Sweetly Peated

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.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.