Craigellachie 17 Year Old Scotch Whisky 750ml

A range of Craigellachie 17 Year old single malts was released for the first time in 2014. The distillery is known for its meaty character, and the 17-year-old is sweet and slightly smoky, with tropical fruit notes.

It used to be a rather rare sight to see an official bottling of Craigellachie single malt. Well after years of waiting, in 2014, four turned up all at once! The 17 year old expression really shows off the meatiness of this Speysider’s spirit – top stuff.

Craigellachie 17 Year old is a Speyside distillery owned by John Dewar & Sons and one of only 13 in Scotland to still use worm-tub condensers (copper coils in a container that are cooled by a constant flow of cool water to condense the vapor coming from the still). This way of doing things is decidedly “old-school” and a chore to maintain as leaks can arise. Primarily used for Dewar’s blends, Craigellachie has only recently begun releasing single malts. This 17-year expression was released in 2014 and bottled at 46% ABV.

One of four distillery bottlings released in September 2014 – 13 year old, 17 year old, 19 year old and 23 year old – the first proprietary bottlings to emerge from Craigellachie Distillery. This 17 year-old expression is aged 50/50 in sherry wine seasoned and ex-bourbon casks.

Nose:

Apple crumble, melon and raisins. Honey’d barley, a little hint of smoke and vanilla ice-cream.

Palate:

It opens very sweet with pineapple and custard creams, though the meatiness soon shines through. More smoke on the palate than the nose, with a touch of clove and oak.

Finish:

Waxy and smoky on the finish.