Tonight’s Tipple #006 Craigellachie, 17 yo Bottled at 46% and non chill-filtered. One assumes no color added but this is not explicitly stated. The bottle cites “Old Fashioned in 1891” and the use of worm tubs in generating a compelling flavor. They use their own malt too, which is worth a thought. Bought locally in NJ, $125.00, or thereabouts. PREAMBLE: having been a fan of the 13, I took the opportunity of spousal consent to add the older version. This turned out to be a quite different iteration of the whisky, rather than a “richer” version of the 13. Overall, it’s delicious, but ideosyncratic (which is a good thing). COLOR: Mid gold. No red, no straw, no green (not that that was expected). Not especially deep, more a generalist “whisky” color. Long legs, climbing the glass. NOSE: dry, a definite prickly EtOH overlays the Tia Maria, digestive biscuity, estery banana nose. Somewhat “funky”. Faint Mocha. PALETTE: long warmth, but less so on flavor. Medium mouth feel. Slightly dry, slightly tannic. Pepper. Malty. Biscuity. McVitae’s Digestive Biscuity. Tia Maria in the background. Quite “back of tongue”. Barley. Mid-heavy. With time in the glass, it settles to a warm, sweet, very toothsome dram that calls one back. CONCLUSION: while I expected this to be a richer version of the 13, it is really its own beast - much more grainy It is much more refined than the 13 and definitely less angular. However it does have its “corners” and lacks the overall smoothness (thankfully) of other 16 and 18 year olds. This is definitely a better use of one’s dollar than (say) the GlenDronach 15 and up there with the Arran 18. It definitely encourages you to take another sip. A very good job indeed by the Peter Machie team! Would I buy it again? Yes. Definitely. What do YOU think? ScotShot out!

Posted by ScotShot at 2023-06-08 02:11:03 UTC