Uncharted Whisky Co. is a new independent bottler founded by Jack Breslin (UK) and Dana de Vos (Germany).
In an attempt to create off the grid bottlings, they have a series called Rumours (undisclosed single malts) as well as some named single cask releases like this Glenallachie 2007, fully matured in a first-fill sherry cask.
Glenallachie 13 yo 2007 (50%, Uncharted Whisky Co 2021, first-fill sherry butt, 799 btl.)
Nose: vanilla toffee avalanche at first. This gradually moves towards strawberry and cream candy. Then some sticky dates, floral notes and fragrant spice (French oak style, almost) and nice hints of dried apricots.
Mouth: a modern sherry cask, which means there’s a lot of fresh oaky notes to be found (pencil shavings, vanilla custard, white pepper) alongside the typical sherry notes. Plenty of caramel, raisins, butterscotch and hints of Brandy de Jerez. Slightly tangy cloves, as well as a light bitter edge (orange peel, toasted wood and a hint of cold coffee).
Finish: long, with spices and herbal notes underpinned by walnuts and caramel.
A clean and rich sherry bottling, but not entirely classic due to cask wizardry. The sherry influence (or was it a nearby region like Montilla?) feels a little pressure-cooked to me, but will probably please a lot of people, I’m sure. Not widely available (yet) but Deinwhisky.de is handling the import to Germany.