Deleted my first post because I absent-mindedly called it a Cadenhead Small Batch when the photo clearly shows it wasn't.

Distillery: Glenallachie

Region: Speyside

Price: $19/20ml (dram from a bar)

Cask Type: Ex-bourbon hogsheads

ABV: 52.0%

Chill-filtered: No

Color: 0.9, amontillado sherry (natural colour).

Rested ~15 minutes before drunk neat in a tulip.

Nose: Holy crap. Wax, butternut squash?!, blackcurrant, apple compote, apricot compote, butterscotch popcorn.

Palate: Raspberry, blackcurrant, soursop, jackfruit in spades!, musk melon, mango, hint of papaya, honey in the background, wax pops up near the end. Rounded, juicy texture. You won't find any burn here.

Finish: Raspberry, strawberries, blackcurrant, tons of Maraschino cherry juice, cherry drops, anise, very gently warming, no astringency. Medium length.

Conclusion: Just delicious and rich as heck. Berries and tons of exotic fruits (well, not really exotic to me in South-East Asia). Very difficult to believe it's 25yo. Not fusty, musty or overwhelmed by the cask. Incredibly vibrant, yet mature - wears its age lightly in the best possible way. If I were to nitpick, I would have liked to see a bit more length to the finish. The intoxicating cherry hits hard but tapers away a bit more quickly than needed to really push this up a level. The butternut squash was a bit strange initially too, but I think it gives this some personality. It might be too funky for some to get through though, I concede. The bartender thought it an underrated dram, and I'm inclined to agree.

If it were named by the SMWS: Tiki Cherry Pop

Score: 91

Scotch Review #13, Whisky Network Review #15

H.Y.