It is fairly safe to say that the worthy but deeply obscure Allt-A-Bhainne distillery in Speyside (pronounced: Olt-a-VAYN or Olt-a-VANYA depending on who you ask) is not a name that rushes to most whisky fans' lips when asked to name their top ten distilleries. One of a handful of modern Speyside single malt whisky distilleries built for the anticipated whisky boom of the late 60s and early 70s, Allt-A-Bhainne has appeared in many independent bottlings through the years but until 2018 there were never any official bottlings.
A modern distillery from day one, Allt-A-Bhainne has always produced a blend-friendly, lighter style of spirit. Allt-A-Bhainne was expanded with a second pair of stills in 1989 and eventually changed hands from Diageo to Pernod Ricard in 2001, after which the distillery was briefly mothballed until 2005.
Over the five decades of its lifetime Allt-A-Bhainne's single malt whisky has almost all gone into the Chivas and 100 Pipers blends, save for the occasional cask that finds its way into an independent bottling, but in 2018 the distillery was finally honoured with its first proper ongoing official bottling, which was marketed with the appealing tagline 'Just enough peat to start a fire'.
Allt-A-Bhainne Distillery
Founded: 1975
Stills: 2 Wash Stills, 2 Spirit Stills
Water Source: Scurran & Rowantree Burns
Capacity: 4.2 Million Litres
Owners: Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard)
The main characteristics of Allt-A-Bhainne's standard spirit are a big grassiness with notes of cereals, butter, porridge, vegetables and some quite sweet notes with occasional citrus.
Allt-A-Bhainne's owners Pernod Ricard have tweaked the production process in recent years, adding another string to the distillery's bow in the form of a lightly peated spirit which now accounts for 30-50% of production. This lightly peated style contributed in 2018 to Allt-A-Bhainne's long overdue first ever official bottling, a gentle, lightly smoky no-age-statement dram. Most of the independent bottlers have also released Allt-A-Bhainne at some point and the best of these are terrific value.
Allt-A-Bhainne really excels as an easygoing summer malt whisky. It is not exactly an old Ardbeg or Brora so it is a whisky you can feel free to have a bit more fun with. Ice in summer, a perfect lighter base for whisky cocktails, home blending experiments… the list goes on. It is a plain but clean spirit and one that leaves plenty room for having fun and not being too serious or precious about. After all, isn't whisky really about fun?
Allt-A-Bhainne seems destined to remain a blending workhorse facility, as it always has been. Perhaps renewed efforts in wood management will see some big changes in time but we will have to wait and see.