Well, Craigellachie might not be as overlooked as the first two on this 10 distillery streak of "undesired/less produced as single malt"-whiskies. I think they have a small following, and I remember having one or two really good craigellachies a while back when my tastings were sort of mixed sessions with combinations that I never put much thought into. Anyway, mostly all of it's output has ever gone to blending. Time for a vertical then! Craigellachie puts out an estimated 2.8m litres a year and can be found in blends such as older White Horse bottling and more recently, Dewar's.
Craigellachie 12yo 1971-1983 40% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail
An older bottling at a familiar age, 12yo, could this be an example as to what we could have found around on auctions and stuff if more Craigellachie were bottled as single malt back in the days? There's been a small evaporation in this container. Got some coloring going on. Clear orange hue. The nose suggests a spirity and burnt whisky, that despite the low age does need quite some time to settle down. After a while it gets more bitter and grainy. The taste is spirity and bitter, some tonic water and raw onions going on. The finish is over within a second. I have to give this some water just to see what happens. With 1/5 water it becomes gentler and lighter, but it still has this bitterness. Not a pleasant one, but if you want your whisky to taste like a bitter liqueur, this is the one for you!
Old and lousy stuff from G&M, in my opinion: 2.5
Craigellachie 17yo 1990-2007 43% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail
As you probably will be able to spot, I have another one in my sampling library from same distillery and bottler, same age and same abv. distilled and bottled one year later. So this one must have made for a respectable produce for G&M to be pulling the same numbers two years in a row. Let's see. Pale/straw color, bottled by the time G&M stopped adding caramel? The nose is again bitter, but more on some rustic vegetables this time, chakra, aubergine, bobby beans, linseeds, bitter currants. More subtle than the 1971. The taste is much rounder, more peppery, cinnamon, jackfruit, green paprika, water chestnuts, peppery with a vegan dietary twist. It's more withdrawn and far more complex.
Give it time, and you'll be rewarded: 4.5
Craigellachie 20yo 46% Cadenheads
So, what could this be? Certainly bottled in the late 70's to early 80's, but it lacks the statement of such. There is however a 21yo bottled in 1984 from Cadenhead's with the same label. So it could be some really old distillate then. Again this lightly golden color, which turns quite hazy the minute it's poured, non-chill filtered? If so, Cadenhead's might been a bit more innovative than what I've given them credit for. This one smells peppery, minty, peppermints, herbal, lavender, thyme, oregano, caraway, nutmeg and linseed. The taste is rustic, again all these herbal notes, some old leather stuff, honey liqueur, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, dried paprika, a nice one. Again one that needs both time and patience.
Best one so far, I'd have this one any day: 6.5
Craigellachie 18yo 1982-2000 61.9% Scott's Selection
Again it's time to jump straight from 46% to 60%+ in a tasting, as we did last time when tasting whisky from Glentauchers Distillery. And then there were a definite improvement, so hopefully we'll be able to see the same result with Craigellachie. This is the darkest one so far with a red amber hue. It smells sherried, phenols, roasted meat, barbecue sauce, cinnamon, old ropes, sea soaked wood, something very Islay-ish in this one so far. The taste is so intensely spicy with lots of burnt pine wood, chilies, pepper. It's totally dominating whatever else could be found in this one. Time for some water to the rescue. With added water it turns sweeter with some foul ammonium, burnt wood, stale coffee, raw red onions, radishes, rubber and tomato juice.
Well, the nose promised more than the palate could give: 3.5
Craigellachie 8yo 2002-2011 60.1% A.D. Rattray Cask Collection
Another one from a sherry cask, hopefully this one will turn out to be a bit more pleasant than the over-oaked 18yo. This one is much lighter in color, perhaps due to the young age, or could it be some sort of fino oak? It smells strong, spirity and bitter, it really burns the nostrils, I think I might have to do some Richard Paterson nosing on this one. Step away from the glass!!!:) After a while it shows sign of improvement with some heavy cinnamon and creamy notes. A dessert whisky in creation? The taste is burnt, toffee, spirity, kiwi, sour grapes, cinnamon, many nice and less nice tastes that keeps bouncing off each other. Even tually there is a tie, and I'm left with an interesting spirit which its cask has made it, with some vices from the distillate that it probably could've done well without. All in all a good effort.
Seems Craigellachie might be more depended on good casks than some others: 6
Next tasting: Off the Beaten path#4
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