spot on review and I am in complete agreement. The Balvenie 15 is one of those rarer bottles that newer drinkers and whisky geeks can both really enjoy. Glenallachie 15...it's nice and priced accordingly.
Glenallachie 15 in Alberta can be had for $105 ($83 US) Cad. Balvenie 15 sherry is double that almost in Alberta and near triple in Ontario. I do have the Balvenie, getting time to kill the bottle though.
Good choices for a side by side comparison. Had a bottle of both of these. Neither blew me away. Think they both cost me $125- $135 from memory with the GA being a UK order 700ml that I got 2 years ago. They have been changing with every release as to me there lineup was rushed to market. Old tired casks from a unknown blending distillery racked into expensive sherry casks for a undisclosed time to have something to sell ASAP. The Balvenie on the other hand spent the entire 15 years in one cask. Between full maturation vs finishing my preference is full maturation. Cheers guy's
Of course there are exceptions but in general I agree, full term is preferred. I've always enjoyed the single barrel lineup because only single casks were used. To their credit, Balvenie is also one of the first distilleries I think of when it comes to cask finishing.
Just ordered a GlenAllachie 15 and haven't triewd it yet... but no way this is a contest... the Balvenie 15 Single Barrel is the best whisky I've ever tasted.
I just got the Balvenie 15 and was pleased. Nice spices! I am a beginner and so far I am still stuck on Bunnahabhain. Really enjoy everything from them and especially the manzanilla cask. Really enjoy the peated whiskeys too! Thanks for a great review guys 👍🥃
Nice comparison guys, great work as always. In the UK the Glenallachie can comfortably be bought for under £60 so great value (I have a bottle of the most recent batch open at the moment) but it’s unfortunately overrated for me, fine if you like whisky with your Sherry but it lacks complexity and there’s no discernible distillery character. I think the basic issue is that the spirit Billy Walker inherited is pretty mediocre, there’s only so much a cask can do, if the basic spirit ain’t great the end product is going to fall short. As Dustin alluded to Billy has tinkered with the Glenallachie distillate since taking over so it may improve, but it’s going to be another 8 or 10 years before we know. Totally agree that the Balvenie is a vastly superior product, as is the Glendronach 15, even the most recent iterations totally blow the Glenallachie out of the water.
I haven't priced these so good to know and that really is a good price though I think glendronach 15 can be had for about the same if not less and agree it's also better. I feel like there's a lot of work to be done on these Glenalachie's before they're really a contender for the best 15 year old sherried whisky or even the best value one. But I'll trust Billy Walker to make progress.
Not many reviews you fellers do, let alone a side-by-side, that I can play along at home. But this one I can…and did. It was my first crack at the Balvenie. The Glenallachie I have loved. Best Balvenie I’ve tasted (only had DoubleWood 12, Peat Week 14, and the rum cask one to date). I like the aggressive way the Glenallachie comes on, but I can see there is lots of subtlety in this Balvenie. More research required! :) Thanks for an interesting and engaging video.
Love Glenallachie in general, the 10yo CS Batch 4 and 5 is fantastic and not to forgett 12yo. Balvenie on the other hand I find quite boring (the core range) I haven't tried any singel casks. Because your trying 15yo...I recomend you try The Glen Garioch 15yo Sherry Matured, or why not Springbank 15yo....both great drams.
You're not the first to mention glen garioch but I've never seen one. And I can't imagine anyone needs ANOTHER video on springbank from us, lol. There are already like 30, they're like 10% of the channel's videos.
Hi Mike and Dustin Enjoyed your review on glenallachie 15year old and the balvenie 15year, I'm on my 4th bottle of the glenallachie 15 and I love it, I have a bottle of the balvenie 15year that's not opened yet, but I will have to get it opened next to see if it's as good as you say in comparison. I have a tight budget, and the glenallachie 15year old is $80.00 where I live, and the balvenie 15year is $120.00 ,that's why I have been buying the glenallachie whiskeys, as soon as I can get another bottle of the balvenie 15year I will open one and see if I agree with you, I wish you guys would buy and review the glenallachie 10year old batch 2, because I have 2 bottles and I would like to see what you guys think, have a great day and cheers guy's, and keep the great videos coming, your biggest fan. Frankie H
Thanks Frankie. The batch has come and gone in my area, and I didn't grab it. I might grab some of the future releases. But right now if I were looking for value, Arran seems to be where I'd go, though I don't think their 10 is heavy sherry.
Hi Mike and Dustin It's interesting that you picked the arran malt for a go for you, I just picked up yesterday 2 bottles of arran 18year old, however they are both the older bottles of the arran, and I think you and Mike did a review on the old and new versions, but the new one is not available yet where I live, however did you really like the 18 old compared to the new, and I can't get any batch 3,4,5,6 of the glenallachie 10year old, don't know if I will ever be able to get them, I have to drive 100 miles round trip just to find a bottle of whiskey, and that's total wines, and spec's liquor, which I don't mind, but I'm usually late to pick up a bottle of highly rated whiskey, like ardbeg arrrrrrrbeg committee release, I just got to total wines when they put it on the shelves, got 2 bottles, it was gone before I left the store, anyway just let me know what you think about the arran 18year old, old bottle, thanks for your reply and cheers guy's !!!
@@bongson691 I love both the old and new Arran 18's. We JUST saw them show up here locally, the new one and I bought the last bottle in the store. I expect we'll see the glenallachie batches sooner or later just like it took a year to get Arran 18 new bottles to show up here as well. But the new Arran 18 is noticeably a bit better than the old one. Both are buys.
I've got a Glenallachie 15 thats been open since December and its just not doing it for me. I have batch 2 and 6 of the 10 Cask Strength and like them much better. I just saw the last Balvenie 15 Sherry Barrel on the shelf today and it was on par with Springbank 10 in color, so not particularly dark for 100% sherry in my opinion. Cant find anything on the cask number(6925). Interested in putting it up against the new Glendronach 15. I know you guys have your reservations about them, but to me its still a damn fine pour for the money even though I have yet to experience the old Revival. The Doublewood was my first love, but I'm skeptical that the 15 sherry barrel will resonate as being worth essentially triple the cost of the 12. Let me know if you disagree. Also have you guys had the Arran Bodega?
I rather liked the 15 before they started chill filtering, now just out of principle I don't want to buy it. As for the balvenie, if it's that light, I'd pass on it. Thankfully around us all the bottles we see are dark as heck. But yeah if you find a dark one, get it. They're higher proof and well worth the premium. As for Arran Bodega, no I haven't had any of their NAS products.
Regarding the Balvenie 15 sherry. On the tunes it will say “no more than 650 bottles” or “no more than 800” I believe the 800’s are the first fill and the 650 are the second fill.. but don’t quote me.
@@topshelfwhisky I think I remember you saying that in a video or two before. I'm checking it out again and it is a bit darker than I previously throught due to the lighting in TotalWine it can be hard to tell sometimes (its got a red hue that reminds of my 2020 Uigeadail) and it is "no more than 800". I also seem to recall you mentioning that they are, in your experience, relatively consistent and I imagine you have had plenty of varying batches over the years. I also just stumbled upon a 2021 Loch Gorm and old packaging Benromach 10 year Imperial Proof making my decision even more difficult. although the other two are a little on the high side compared to similar offerings in StL.
I've only bought (and have seen on the shelves) GlenAllachie 12, and I've bought a few bottles (after Ralfy's recommendation), but after much scrutiny, I've decided that I just don't like it. I think it's too heavyhanded with the Virgin Oak and comes off as to sweet & perfumey. So that combined with this review has really put me off the brand. I wish them well and appreciate their Natural Presentation, but I won't be chasing down any of their bottles again anytime soon ✌️
We've got a single barrel review to do....I've been REALLY waiting for it to open up so we can give it the most fair review possible, but not to spoil it, but it wasn't enough to convince me to make further purchases.
mike might have to check but I believe it's a 2020, it's a very recent buy from the UK, Keith doesn't take his time with his bottles and we maybe held onto this for 2 months max.
Recent badges of GlenAllachie 12 and 10 CS(really dark ones) are exceptional for 60 and 70$ and really really hard to find in Bay Area and that’s it imo. Tried their 15,18 and 3 different single cask and they’re just fine. Price difference on these two is considerable too, GlenAllachie 15 around 85$ and Balvenie goes around 140$ here but I still believe it’s a distillery that you shouldn’t go beyond their 12 year old at this moment.
Need to mention two more things, first I guess this GlenAllachie is a 2018 or 2019 release since last month that I saw in on shelves it was twice as dark as this (Almost black) and it was a late 2020 badge. Second, Dustin mentioned 10 CS hasn’t hit the shelves but I already bought badge 4 and 5 few months ago and both are sold out anywhere here.
@@Houman7 this was likely a 2020 and it IS pretty darn dark, but maybe mike can check the bottle for a date. We've only seen the 2 CS on shelves locally, but you're in cali right? Can take 6+ months for things to make it from there to the midwest.
@@topshelfdustin3060 Just found out their distributor located in SF so it makes sense to take time to get them there. Skip first 3 badges but I’d recommend you going for 4 or 5. K&L still has it in stock. Make sure to tell Mike check their Laphroaig independent bottles at K&L. 31 year old CS for 299$ is great deal
Hard to find out if GlenAllachie is American or European oak. I'm assuming, for the type of oak, the Balvenie is going to be superior because it is all European oak now. I'm guessing that the GlenAllachie is American oak matured.
@ 6:15 Absolutely agree with that assessment. Thanks for the contribution D&M.
Dustin has his moments
Great comparison . I will have to seek out the Balvenie 15.Thanks for another great review.
Classic Speyside sherried whisky and available.
spot on review and I am in complete agreement. The Balvenie 15 is one of those rarer bottles that newer drinkers and whisky geeks can both really enjoy. Glenallachie 15...it's nice and priced accordingly.
I'm glad I didn't buy the Glenallachie 15. I did buy the 10 yr batch 5, but have yet to open it.Great comparison.
Glenallachie 15 in Alberta can be had for $105 ($83 US) Cad. Balvenie 15 sherry is double that almost in Alberta and near triple in Ontario. I do have the Balvenie, getting time to kill the bottle though.
Balvenie 15 is the only Balvenie I buy and find remotely worth it’s money.
Week of Peat? Or their standard double wood? Both seems very reasonable to me.
Good choices for a side by side comparison. Had a bottle of both of these. Neither blew me away. Think they both cost me $125- $135 from memory with the GA being a UK order 700ml that I got 2 years ago. They have been changing with every release as to me there lineup was rushed to market. Old tired casks from a unknown blending distillery racked into expensive sherry casks for a undisclosed time to have something to sell ASAP. The Balvenie on the other hand spent the entire 15 years in one cask. Between full maturation vs finishing my preference is full maturation. Cheers guy's
Of course there are exceptions but in general I agree, full term is preferred. I've always enjoyed the single barrel lineup because only single casks were used. To their credit, Balvenie is also one of the first distilleries I think of when it comes to cask finishing.
Just ordered a GlenAllachie 15 and haven't triewd it yet... but no way this is a contest... the Balvenie 15 Single Barrel is the best whisky I've ever tasted.
I just got the Balvenie 15 and was pleased. Nice spices! I am a beginner and so far I am still stuck on Bunnahabhain. Really enjoy everything from them and especially the manzanilla cask. Really enjoy the peated whiskeys too! Thanks for a great review guys 👍🥃
welcome to the wonderful world of scotcha nd if you're new, you've walked right into for the money about as good as bottle as it gets.
Nice comparison guys, great work as always.
In the UK the Glenallachie can comfortably be bought for under £60 so great value (I have a bottle of the most recent batch open at the moment) but it’s unfortunately overrated for me, fine if you like whisky with your Sherry but it lacks complexity and there’s no discernible distillery character. I think the basic issue is that the spirit Billy Walker inherited is pretty mediocre, there’s only so much a cask can do, if the basic spirit ain’t great the end product is going to fall short. As Dustin alluded to Billy has tinkered with the Glenallachie distillate since taking over so it may improve, but it’s going to be another 8 or 10 years before we know.
Totally agree that the Balvenie is a vastly superior product, as is the Glendronach 15, even the most recent iterations totally blow the Glenallachie out of the water.
I haven't priced these so good to know and that really is a good price though I think glendronach 15 can be had for about the same if not less and agree it's also better. I feel like there's a lot of work to be done on these Glenalachie's before they're really a contender for the best 15 year old sherried whisky or even the best value one. But I'll trust Billy Walker to make progress.
Billy is 76. He will have some stories to tell if he is around when GlenAllachie put out a 15-18 year old distilled during his ownership!
Not many reviews you fellers do, let alone a side-by-side, that I can play along at home. But this one I can…and did. It was my first crack at the Balvenie. The Glenallachie I have loved. Best Balvenie I’ve tasted (only had DoubleWood 12, Peat Week 14, and the rum cask one to date). I like the aggressive way the Glenallachie comes on, but I can see there is lots of subtlety in this Balvenie. More research required! :) Thanks for an interesting and engaging video.
That's awesome man. We try and throw in some more affordable options in these vs.
Love Glenallachie in general, the 10yo CS Batch 4 and 5 is fantastic and not to forgett 12yo. Balvenie on the other hand I find quite boring (the core range) I haven't tried any singel casks. Because your trying 15yo...I recomend you try The Glen Garioch 15yo Sherry Matured, or why not Springbank 15yo....both great drams.
You're not the first to mention glen garioch but I've never seen one. And I can't imagine anyone needs ANOTHER video on springbank from us, lol. There are already like 30, they're like 10% of the channel's videos.
Hi Mike and Dustin
Enjoyed your review on glenallachie 15year old and the balvenie 15year, I'm on my 4th bottle of the glenallachie 15 and I love it, I have a bottle of the balvenie 15year that's not opened yet, but I will have to get it opened next to see if it's as good as you say in comparison. I have a tight budget, and the glenallachie 15year old is $80.00 where I live, and the balvenie 15year is $120.00 ,that's why I have been buying the glenallachie whiskeys, as soon as I can get another bottle of the balvenie 15year I will open one and see if I agree with you, I wish you guys would buy and review the glenallachie 10year old batch 2, because I have 2 bottles and I would like to see what you guys think, have a great day and cheers guy's, and keep the great videos coming, your biggest fan.
Frankie H
Thanks Frankie. The batch has come and gone in my area, and I didn't grab it. I might grab some of the future releases. But right now if I were looking for value, Arran seems to be where I'd go, though I don't think their 10 is heavy sherry.
I always like to have a second bottle in hand before opening one. Whisky security if you will... Regarding cost The Balvenie is $128 so similar.
Hi Mike and Dustin
It's interesting that you picked the arran malt for a go for you, I just picked up yesterday 2 bottles of arran 18year old, however they are both the older bottles of the arran, and I think you and Mike did a review on the old and new versions, but the new one is not available yet where I live, however did you really like the 18 old compared to the new, and I can't get any batch 3,4,5,6 of the glenallachie 10year old, don't know if I will ever be able to get them, I have to drive 100 miles round trip just to find a bottle of whiskey, and that's total wines, and spec's liquor, which I don't mind, but I'm usually late to pick up a bottle of highly rated whiskey, like ardbeg arrrrrrrbeg committee release, I just got to total wines when they put it on the shelves, got 2 bottles, it was gone before I left the store, anyway just let me know what you think about the arran 18year old, old bottle, thanks for your reply and cheers guy's !!!
@@bongson691 I love both the old and new Arran 18's. We JUST saw them show up here locally, the new one and I bought the last bottle in the store. I expect we'll see the glenallachie batches sooner or later just like it took a year to get Arran 18 new bottles to show up here as well. But the new Arran 18 is noticeably a bit better than the old one. Both are buys.
I've got a Glenallachie 15 thats been open since December and its just not doing it for me. I have batch 2 and 6 of the 10 Cask Strength and like them much better. I just saw the last Balvenie 15 Sherry Barrel on the shelf today and it was on par with Springbank 10 in color, so not particularly dark for 100% sherry in my opinion. Cant find anything on the cask number(6925). Interested in putting it up against the new Glendronach 15. I know you guys have your reservations about them, but to me its still a damn fine pour for the money even though I have yet to experience the old Revival. The Doublewood was my first love, but I'm skeptical that the 15 sherry barrel will resonate as being worth essentially triple the cost of the 12. Let me know if you disagree. Also have you guys had the Arran Bodega?
I rather liked the 15 before they started chill filtering, now just out of principle I don't want to buy it. As for the balvenie, if it's that light, I'd pass on it. Thankfully around us all the bottles we see are dark as heck. But yeah if you find a dark one, get it. They're higher proof and well worth the premium. As for Arran Bodega, no I haven't had any of their NAS products.
Regarding the Balvenie 15 sherry. On the tunes it will say “no more than 650 bottles” or “no more than 800”
I believe the 800’s are the first fill and the 650 are the second fill.. but don’t quote me.
@@topshelfwhisky I think I remember you saying that in a video or two before. I'm checking it out again and it is a bit darker than I previously throught due to the lighting in TotalWine it can be hard to tell sometimes (its got a red hue that reminds of my 2020 Uigeadail) and it is "no more than 800". I also seem to recall you mentioning that they are, in your experience, relatively consistent and I imagine you have had plenty of varying batches over the years. I also just stumbled upon a 2021 Loch Gorm and old packaging Benromach 10 year Imperial Proof making my decision even more difficult. although the other two are a little on the high side compared to similar offerings in StL.
I've only bought (and have seen on the shelves) GlenAllachie 12, and I've bought a few bottles (after Ralfy's recommendation), but after much scrutiny, I've decided that I just don't like it. I think it's too heavyhanded with the Virgin Oak and comes off as to sweet & perfumey. So that combined with this review has really put me off the brand. I wish them well and appreciate their Natural Presentation, but I won't be chasing down any of their bottles again anytime soon ✌️
We've got a single barrel review to do....I've been REALLY waiting for it to open up so we can give it the most fair review possible, but not to spoil it, but it wasn't enough to convince me to make further purchases.
@@topshelfdustin3060 Glad I'm not alone on this 👍
great side by side comparison guys!
Thanks for the loaner bottle Keith.
What batch is that Glenallachie? The 10 ,12 & 15 have all been majorly upgraded with the more current batches.
mike might have to check but I believe it's a 2020, it's a very recent buy from the UK, Keith doesn't take his time with his bottles and we maybe held onto this for 2 months max.
Recent badges of GlenAllachie 12 and 10 CS(really dark ones) are exceptional for 60 and 70$ and really really hard to find in Bay Area and that’s it imo. Tried their 15,18 and 3 different single cask and they’re just fine. Price difference on these two is considerable too, GlenAllachie 15 around 85$ and Balvenie goes around 140$ here but I still believe it’s a distillery that you shouldn’t go beyond their 12 year old at this moment.
Need to mention two more things, first I guess this GlenAllachie is a 2018 or 2019 release since last month that I saw in on shelves it was twice as dark as this (Almost black) and it was a late 2020 badge. Second, Dustin mentioned 10 CS hasn’t hit the shelves but I already bought badge 4 and 5 few months ago and both are sold out anywhere here.
@@Houman7 this was likely a 2020 and it IS pretty darn dark, but maybe mike can check the bottle for a date. We've only seen the 2 CS on shelves locally, but you're in cali right? Can take 6+ months for things to make it from there to the midwest.
@@topshelfdustin3060 Just found out their distributor located in SF so it makes sense to take time to get them there. Skip first 3 badges but I’d recommend you going for 4 or 5. K&L still has it in stock. Make sure to tell Mike check their Laphroaig independent bottles at K&L. 31 year old CS for 299$ is great deal
@@Houman7 they won't ship to us sadly. We can workout deals of course, but that always gets a bit expensive.
For me, the age of fifteen years is right about the point where single malt scotch is at it's peak...
I’ve had many highly enjoyable 15 year-old whiskies. Sadly not enough at cask strength.
Hard to find out if GlenAllachie is American or European oak. I'm assuming, for the type of oak, the Balvenie is going to be superior because it is all European oak now. I'm guessing that the GlenAllachie is American oak matured.
🕵🏼♀️