
December 5, 2019

Little duos, today Craigellachie 2005

We’ve had some very good Craigs’ a few weeks ago, so time to go for them again, although we’d just have two little 2005s today.

Craigellachie 13 yo 2005/2019 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, refill bourbon barrels, batch #19/101, 1314 bottles)

Craigellachie 13 yo 2005/2019 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, refill bourbon barrels, batch #19/101, 1314 bottles)
This baby’s a vatting of four casks. Colour: white wine. Nose: plain and pure barley eau-de-vie an custard with drops of pastis and some kind of fennel extract, then apple pie, sweet beer, williams pear and brioche. Does what it says on the tin, it’s well Scotch single malt whisky (Mr. Einstein, you’ve got competition). Mouth: very malty and very much on ale, with quite a lot of sourness, green oak perhaps, artisan cider, then calms down, with more vanilla, brioche again, and just a drop of café latte. Also stewed rhubarb an green plums. Finish: rather long, sweeter and rather rounder this time, but with quite a lot of pepper and greener ginger. Comments: certainly good and even rather flawless, but I would have thought this baby would have been, say a little silkier and smoother.
SGP:351 - 80 points.

Craigellachie 13 yo 2005/2019 (58.1%, Single Cask Nation, bourbon hogshead)

(Picture of a sister bottling). Our American friends’ ‘first UK + European release’. So, virtually Brexit-ready already, that’s what I’d call an admirable adaptability ;-). Colour: white wine. Nose: it’s much stronger, and yet relatively easier at very fist nosing, more mineral for sure, getting then pretty leafy/chalky and a tad aguardienty, as they say in… err, well, no one’s saying that I suppose. With water: fennel seeds just like in the G&M, aniseed, then muesli, raw wool and some unexpected seaweed. Mouth (neat): sharp in a good way, on not-too-ripe kiwis and lime. Which, I suppose, you could mix with that aguardiente. Then a touch of wasabi, which completes this feeling of ‘green’ whisky. With water: super-good, and rather more on all things green apples. A glutamate-y touch (I know, no one’s saying that either). Finish: long and rather sharper yet, on wasabi and pepper over green apples. Peelings in the aftertaste. Comments: some very excellent ‘green’ whisky – but is it organic as well?
SGP:461 - 86 points.

Check the index of all Craigellachie we've tasted so far