Meikle Toir 5y/o 'The Chinquapin One' 48%ABV 30ml

Meikle Toir is the brand name of peated Glenallachie and is a passion project of Master Distiller Billy Walker who started the project after he bought Glenallachie. in fact in Gaelic Meikle Toir means 'Big Pursuit' - or life mission, something you strive for, the ultimate goal of your life. Billy Walker is a famous blender of heavy sherry unpeated whisky mostly because he ran Glendronach for many years but his dream to to create a new peated malt. Since he bought the distillery he has been distilling peated malt for 6 weeks every year before the annual close down and finally it has arrived with 3 core range whiskies and an annual limited release at a higher ABV called Turbo which sold out in Europe in minutes.

This expression was matured in virgin Chinquapin oak casks sourced from the Northern Ozark region of Missouri, USA, imparting aromas of milk chocolate, charred hazelnut, toasted cinnamon and burnt molasses on the nose. 

Quercus Alba or White Oak is by far the most common - Chinquapin is a different variety of oak, the wood looks similar and it has always been used in whisky casks but its less common and distilleries would call casks with some chinquapin staves 'sweet casks' without really understanding why they had a slightly different taste as the whisky was a little sweeter and sometimes had some herbal and menthol notes. Dr. Bill Lumsden from Glenmorangie did research in the different oak varieties such as chinquapin, burr oak post oak and swamp oak and made casks with staves exclusively from these rarer varieties which highlighted more clearly how they influenced the whisky.