Little Duos, today Cragganmore


December 16, 2022

Little Duos, today Cragganmore

A recent indie Cragganmore is never common. A good occasion to try a current batch of the regular official 12 years old as the mandatory sparring partner…
(picture Diageo)

Cragganmore 12 yo (40%, OB, +/-2022)

The latest Cragganmore 12 that we've tried was a circa 2016 batch and we found it a little underwhelming (WF 79). We tend to believe that this expression was 'better' in the 1990s (when Michael Jackson was singing its praises), but things come and go, don't they… Colour: straw. Nose: I believe I'm finding more oranges and Jaffa cakes than before, which is very nice, obviously. And early grey, orange blossom water, meadow honey, macaroons and fresh brioche. Really nice, now as we all very well know, the devil is on the palate… Mouth: ah, those oranges are there too, together with some kind of light salty smokiness, not unseen in Cragganmore. Otherwise we have butterscotch and brioche, a little toffee, and even a drop of some kind of slightly salty bouillon. We're far from some of those cardboardy batches from the mid-2010s. Finish: unexpectedly long, with a little camphor this time, as well as something a little coastal. It's almost as if they had refilled some ex-Lagavulin casks. Marmalade in the aftertaste. Comments: huge difference, good fruits, great progress. Bottling at 43-46% vol. would almost warrant 85 points. Michael Jackson was right, but we had no doubt about that!
SGP:551 - 83 points.

Cragganmore 26 yo 1995/2022 (54.7%, Hunter Laing, First Editions, sherry butt, cask #HL 19521, 590 bottles)

Colour: amber. Nose: completely different, with rather some walnut stain at first, old walnuts, dried beef, a pile of old books and newspapers, then a little mint sauce, chutneys, and some morel and truffle. Truffled potato purée, a dish for gods (like us my friend). With water: we're coming curiously close to the style of the official 12, but this older one has got more spices, gingerbread, beef jerky, earth… A touch of juniper and clove. Mouth (neat): those oranges are back; you could almost find a little Dalmoreness to this one. Those Jaffa cakes! With water: love it now. Wonderful earthiness completed by all kinds of small citrus, with a lovely yuzuness (!) Finish: medium, fresh, with some lemongrass, melissa, pink grapefruits, Szechuan pepper… Comments: from old walnuts to pink grapefruits, that was a rather fascinating journey. Awesome Cragganmore that just needs some time. Give it to him! I mean to it!
SGP:651 - 88 points.

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