Craigellachie 13yo Tasting – “Last Great Malts”

What tasty looking packaging, fresh but yet vintage, dignified but yet intriguing and with an age statement… a new release with an age statement, wonderful, come on in, let’s have a look at you.

This 13 year old is just one of Craigellachie’s new offerings,  there are four being released, 13, 17 and 23, (a sneeky 19 year old for travel retail only) and amazingly these four are the very first the “old fashioned” distillery has packaged and released EVER… NOTE:  Craigellachie has proven over the years to be a firm favourite with the independent bottlers, so there are a fair few bottlings of Craigellachie available as single casks and small batches/ vattings but none as a distillery own bottling until now.

OK as I mentioned the new range being offered from Craigellachie includes a 13 year old, 17 year old, 19 year old and a 23 year old, quirky ages!   But there is nothing quirky about the pricing of the oldest… a steep £385 for the 23 year old, but I am sure Bacardi has done their homework and there must be a reason for the lofty price tag… we need to understand the scarcity of this Whisky, how rare and limited is it?  Anyone know?

Last week I posted about Bacardi’s “Last Great Malts” these 4 Craigellachie’s will form part of this new collection.

Onto the tasting, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a sneek preview of the Craigellachie 13 year old (rrp £50) and below are my tasting notes:

Nose:  Soft melted banana toffos, vanilla rice, apple skins, window putty and a freshly opened can of pineapple chunks

Taste: flowery talcum, pressed face powder, metallic / aluminum notes, dry mouth feel like cranberries, dusty wood shavings, a soft waft of smoke

Finish: An odd dryness right to the back of my mouth and throat, but tasty lasting notes, dried cranberries and some wood spice

Speyside with a dark edge…