Craigellachie 13 Year Old

Craigellachie was not a bottle that I was really aware of before going on a virtual tasting, where I got to try this as well as a lovely sample of Angel’s Envy.

Seeing this described as the “Bad Boy of Speyside” I wondered if that was similar to being described as the coolest kid in the chess club (for the record I am a big fan of chess and 100% recommend checking out The Queens Gambit on Netflix) I was very wrong to doubt this bottle.

Like peat fired kilns develop a smokey peat taste in the Whisky, Craigellachie uses an oil-fired kiln which really imparts into the bottle.

Experience

This may be my new favourite bottle label (sorry Redbreast). It has such a vintage poster feel which balances on the right side of a genuine classic than a tacky throwback. Granted I did struggle to read the label at first and still struggle to say the name. The 13 overlapped in in red is just such a fantastic design detail.

It has a really great natural light gold colour and being non chill-filtered has a slight cloudy hint. The Scotch mist really appears with a drop of water.

Nose

There is a rich burnt pineapple straight off the bat and gives a pleasant smell of slight smoke produced from a hog roast. This certainly is a ‘tropicalish’ dram with exotic fruits and some apples for good measure.

Taste

The oil from the kiln really transfers into the palette with such a thick and fatty texture. It contains the classic Speyside fruits but combined with some salt and five-spice. This really coats everything and provides one of the longest finishes I have had from a Whisky.

Value for Money

This is a Scotch which is new to me so not one that I have been price tracking. From looking around it seems to currently sit around £45 which can be picked up from Dewar’s website directly. It is also available on Amazon. For this price, I think it is good value for money and would recommend it if ever on sale.