Today Craigellachie again


February 8, 2024

WF's Little Duos, today Craigellachie again

As the big names are no longer widely available from the independents, which I think is a serious strategic error on the part of the owners (but let's move on, son) we are seeing more and more second-tier offerings coming through. Many are excellent, but not all; there's also a bit of anything and everything, like pure ethanol aged in STR casks, or prepared with red wine. Here you go again. Anyway, let's take a look at these little Craigs'…

Craigellachie 14 yo 2009/2023 (43%, Jean Boyer, Gifted Stills of Scotland, hogshead, 346 bottles)

It's good to see, on the label, that someone's approved this bottling. Indeed you see that on almost all bottles of whisky, ha. That said, the Jean Boyer company was our friend Jean Marie Kovacs', who had previously been at the helm of Auxil whose legendary bottles from the 1980s we keep tasting rather regularly. RIP Jean Marie, but very happy to see the Jean Boyer house continue to supply the French market with its very, very pretty spirits. Colour: white wine. Nose: very much in the spirit of the house, meaning more obsessed with the distillate than the casks. In this case, it's apple juice, pear and cherry, with just a small slice of fresh brioche. And that's very good. Mouth: what much pleasure, this barley spirit goes down all by itself, leaving traces of apple, acacia honey, pear, coffee cream and cinnamon roll along the way. Also a hint of ginger, but without any vulgarity. Finish: medium length, on apple cookies and a touch of salted butter caramel. A very nice lemon as a signature. Comments: nothing else to say, except that it's the kind of bottle that usually lasts only a week. A tribute to Craigellachie's distillate (I mean the Craigellachie distillery). Under these conditions, 43% vol. works very well.
SGP:551 - 86 points.

Craigellachie 20 yo 2003/2023 (53.4%, WhiskySponge for Kensington Wine Market, refill barrel, 186 bottles)

The Kensington Wine Market is located in Calgary, Canada. They're well-known all over the world (or quite) and if I ever manage to go pester the Calgarians, I'll make sure to go pester the good people at the Kensington Wine Market too, if Justin T. lets me do it. Colour: straw. Nose: Craigellachie is really a very pretty distillate, always close to a rather fatty, oily barley in terms of smells, and marked by apples of all kinds. All this remains simple, but compelling, we are at the heart of the heart of malt whisky. With water: some precious or less precious herbal teas. And apples and barley syrup. Mouth (neat): it's really fatty, but also lemony, with a beautiful bitterness and this typical waxy side that reflects the natural sulphur of the distillate. We are not talking at all about the sulphur that comes from casks in which candles or wicks have burned. With water: but how good it is! Finish: quite long, you just have to avoid adding too much water which can unbalance it a bit at this stage. Yes, that's what we did, we are sometimes really silly at WF. Comments: well, I totally love this Canadian Craigellachie, which I find has a perfect aromatic honesty. I know what I mean.
SGP:551 - 90 points.

Craigellachie is clearly a malt on the rise, but I believe it rather hates wine casks, like that somewhat terrifying Portified Cadenhead we tasted on January 12th. The two versions we tasted today were in another world. Clean is cleaner.

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