Torabhaig Allt Gleann
Number 03 of 50
Torabhaig Allt Gleann
Age: Not stated (label says casked in 2017 & 2018)
ABV: 46%
Chill filtered: No
Natural colour: Yes
Price: £55 (but we have seen it for less than £50)
We’ve got a confession to make. We’re only on whisky number three and we’ve already broken our own rules! Torabhaig’s Allt Gleann actually has an RRP of £55, but having found it within our budget online we thought we’d allow ourselves a little poetic licence. Turns out it was a good idea!
What they say
A robustly peated spirit with a deceptively refined character, resulting in a complex and characterful maritime whisky.
What we think
Skye in a bottle. But is it a smoky sweetness or a sweet smokiness? Science or serendipity? Let’s have one more sip to see if we can see. Sort of sensational for something so short of seniority. If you haven’t already, consider buying one to drink and one to keep for a different time. It tastes like it will always be here, but one day it will be gone and Torabhaig will never be quite the same again.
THE DISTILLERY
Everything about Torabhaig feels like it has probably turned out a little bit better than anyone had planned. And when you decide to build Skye’s second ever distillery – 184 years after your very famous neighbour set up shop – that initial plan has to be very good indeed.
The distillery itself looks the part – whitewashed walls and fifteenth century stone from an Iron Age fort that’s just a fifteenth century stone’s throw away from the distillery. It faces the mainland from Skye’s Sleat peninsula, has a brace of water sources and, when the sun shines on it, looks as though it too has probably turned out a little better than anyone had planned.
“The distillery feels established and I think that’s partly because of the buildings – it blends in,” says Bruce Perry, Torabhaig’s Global Brand Manager. “It doesn’t look like it landed from a great height for no apparently good reason, or as though it’s trying to be something it’s not.”
Although it is being something it wasn’t. The building was originally a 19th century farm-steading. It is listed so during the build, which began in 2014, all the whisky-making gubbins had to be carefully inserted into the existing shell from left to right: first the purpose-built stills, followed by the eight Canadian Douglas Fir wooden washbacks (nine stainless steel ones had originally been planned) then the mash tun and finally the mill.
THE WHISKY
Torabhaig’s first release (in 2021) was called 2017 and you’ll be hard pressed to find any of the 32,000 bottles left unless you want to fling your finances at the flippers. The second (and current) release, Allt Gleann, will dry up later this year and make way for release number three; Cnoc Na Moine. One more non age statement will come before 2028, when the plan is to release Torabhaig’s first core product: a 10-year-old expression.
“Using the Isle of Skye as the muse was a big part of it,” says Bruce. “I think the vision of a floral, fragrant, elegant interpretation of peat is key to it all. We didn’t want Torabhaig to be searingly medicinal, we didn’t want that polarising approach to whisky making.
“Early on it was wonderfully fruity – long fermentations averaging about 72 hours and a clear wort helped develop those fruity characteristics – but it wasn’t quite peaty enough. I think some of the yeasts we were using were probably fighting with the peat rather than allowing it to flourish. It was a case of finding that harmonious balance. To get where we wanted we had to change one thing at a time, and that took about nine months of playing around. It was about tempering the peat; dialling down the cresols and ramping up the guaiacols.”
the ethos
Don’t know your cresols from your elbow? Quiet at the back, here comes the science bit…
The smoky character of a peated whisky starts in the kiln. After the barley has been steeped in water and malted to begin the germination process it is put into a kiln and a peat fire is started below the resting barley (now known as green malt). The plumes of smoke rise through the green malt, infusing it with phenols; the chemical compounds that give whisky its smoky character.
The level of phenols is measured in phenolic parts per million (PPM). In basic terms, the higher the PPM, the smokier the whisky, although determining the character of that smoke is much more complex.
For a start, the PPM of peated malt is substantially higher than that of a finished whisky as both the production and maturation processes reduce PPM levels. For transparency (and unlike many others) Torabhaig publishes both on its label. But that is still far from the whole story. PPM is a combination of three compounds: phenols, guaiacols and cresols.
“Cresols manifest themselves in that searingly medicinal, Band Aid, medicine chest, ashtray like characteristic. Guaiacols are much more delicate, floral and fragrant, while phenols are similar to cresols but sweeter,” explains Bruce.
The fermentation length, cut points, shape of the stills, amount of reflux, and a myriad of other factors will alter the levels of each in the new make spirit. The combination of the phenols that make up the total PPM is going to determine – in very great detail – the style of a whisky.
THE FUTURE
We’ve got all this way without talking about the Journeyman’s Drams. This is a genuinely exciting initiative by Torabhaig to give each of its nine distillers (pretty much) free rein to make their own whisky. They have to pitch their own unique recipe; deciding on the strain of barley, the yeast, the length of fermentation, the peat reek (if any), the cut points and – to a degree – the cask type. They’re in charge during the 10-or-so days of production and must keep an eye on their spirit during maturation. The result? Who knows! Peated and unpeated expressions are maturing, whiskies that will be finished in sherry and white wine casks, one of the distillers has chosen to use 20% chocolate malt, another a malt with a PPM of 138…
The initiative began in 2019, with two distillers taking part every year since. When the whiskies are deemed ready for release, they will be bottled and sold – the first is planned for 2024. Exciting times – and that’s without taking into account two more non age statement releases, perhaps the odd cask strength release or two, and a 10-year-old expression in 2028.
The future, like everything else at Torabhaig, looks like it might turn out just a little bit better than anyone had planned!
Read the full story – and take a tour – of Torabhaig in Issue Three of The Angels’ Share journal. Available to pre-order now.