Craigellachie

Whisky #597: SMWS 44.143 Good Traditional Fare

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SMWS 44.143 Good Traditional Fare. 17 year old cask strength, single cask bottling from Craigellachie distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 57.0%. Tasted at Whisky a Day HQ, $260 (bottle).

Colour: Electric amber.

Nose: Initial nose prickle, then quickly giving away to caramelised balsamic, blueberries and sweet BBQ beef jerky.

Palate: Heavy, chewy and rich. Dried muscatels, smoked honey, rich raspberry jam and salted caramel macarons. Sweet cigar box & saxophone reed woody notes.

Finish: A drying finish, with a long-lingering warmth on the front half of the palate.

Comments: It’s a delightfully intense and chewy dram. A meaty and oily mouthfeel, but then a drying finish. The contrasting flavours and sensations perhaps reflect the double cask maturation, initially in an ex bourbon hogshead, then finished in 1st fill ex Olorosso sherry barrique. I can’t help but wonder if the bold, meaty, and oily flavours and mouthfeel are driven to a large extent by Craigellachie’s worm tub condensers, which are nowadays somewhat of an outlier compared to most distilleries with shell & tube condensers.

A definite departure from the typically grassier, lighter notes of Craigellachie’s original bottlings, but damn it’s a tasty drop. Worth every penny.

Whisky #451: Craigellachie 13 Year Old Single Malt

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FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby featherCraigellachie 13 Year Old Single Malt. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 46%. Tasted at home, $93 (bottle).

Seeing as my last review was a Craigellachie whisky bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Whisky #450: SMWS 44.66 Summer-Fresh and Sweetly Attractive) – albeit a cask strength single cask release – I thought I’d compare it with one of Craigellachie malts.

Colour: Light gold.

Nose: Very light; you’ve really got to get your nose in the glass to take this one in. Cereal notes and a very faint smell of pine cones.

Palate: Freshly toasted white bread, soft oak and lemony flavours. Almost a bit cheesy, like taking a bite of a slice of Swiss cheese.

Finish: Slightly salty hay-like notes. The flavours fade reasonably soon, leaving a salty tang which lingers.

Comments: I’ve previously enjoyed this whisky, but for some reason tonight the Craigellachie 13 didn’t really do it for me. I’m a fan of Craigellachie as a distillery and have had some great whiskies from them previously. Maybe this one seems a little bit pale in comparison to the cask strength SMWS 44.66 Summer-Fresh and Sweetly Attractive I tried a couple of days ago. Decent, but not outstanding.

Whisky #450: SMWS 44.66 Summer-Fresh and Sweetly Attractive

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FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby featherSMWS 44.66 Summer-Fresh and Sweetly Attractive. 11 year old single cask single malt from Craigellachie Distillery. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 56.3%. Tasted at home, $179 (bottle).

Watching the cricket on a summer’s afternoon, what more appropriately named whisky could there be other than “44.66 Summer-Fresh and Sweetly Attractive” from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society!

Colour: Australian gold.

Nose: Floral; freshly snapped branches. Some faint, sweet lemony notes too.

Palate: So light and easy to drink. Lemon meringue, lemon sherbet sweets – the kind that give you a burst of sherbet when you’ve sucked through the hard lemon sweet outside. Spiced honey, water crackers and freshly cracked black pepper.

Finish: A zesty tang, becoming a little saltier as the flavours fade.

Comments: This whisky was going down quicker than an Australian batting collapse. Fresh, flavoursome and bucket-loads of flavour – absolutely drinkable on a hot summer’s day. I find Craigellachie whiskies generally to have lots of fresh floral and forest scents and flavours, while being extremely smooth and easy to drink (almost a cool sensation on the palate). This one certainly continues in that vein, recommended.

Whisky #327: Craigellachie 17 Year Old Single Malt

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FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby featherIMG_4232Craigellachie 17 Year Old Single Malt. Tasted at the Craigellachie Hotel’s Quaich bar, £8.50.

Colour: Vibrant gold.

Nose: Quite malty, hints of honey too.

Palate: Tangy nectarine; lemon sherbet, grassy.

Finish: Crisp and dry, yet some sweet citrus flavours. Medium length.

Comments: Given I was staying at the Craigellachie Hotel in the village of Craigellachie, I really had no choice but to try a Craigellachie malt. They primarily produce for Dewar’s Blended Whisky, so I thought it appropriate to take the opportunity to try one of their comparatively hard to find single malts. Not too bad, but nothing particularly amazing to write home about.

Whisky #152 – SMWS 44.52 The Artist, the Brewer and the Baker

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FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby featherIMG_3003SMWS 44.52 The Artist, the Brewer and the Baker. 22 year old single cask from Craigellachie Distillery, Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 52.1%. Tasted at home, 100mL tasting bottle as part of SMWS new members’ welcome pack.

Colour: Brilliant light yellow gold; like a fresh glass of clear apple juice.

Nose: Like walking into a wood workshop where craftsmen have been working on timber furniture; rich sawdust, oils and a hint of varnish.

Palate: Smooth entry onto the tongue, flattens out to a salty taste overall. And then the esters really open up and some amazingly complex flavours fill the mouth. Lots of woody notes again, also a slight suggestion of some dried fruits, like grabbing a handful of some mixed dried fruits like apricots, cranberries and sultanas.

Finish: Oily, warming mouthfeel that lingers predominantly at the front of the mouth. Slow fade of flavours and the tingling sensation.

Comments: I’m a big fan of this one. It’s certainly more interesting than some of the SMWS bottlings I tried at their recent tasting event. Maybe because I got to pour myself a larger serve than they could at the tasting event, giving me the chance to get to know the whisky a little better. More of a long lunch kind of affair rather than speed dating. I’d definitely give this one another chance at a later date.