Craigellachie 10 Years Old 2011 Cask #75900021 (Duncan Taylor)

This Craigellachie was bottled by the Huntly bottler Duncan Taylor, a 10 year old, distilled in 2011, from cask 75900021, bottled at 54.5%, one of 420 bottles. Craigellachie sits above Telford's famous Spey bridge, a Speyside distillery of real muscle. Water comes from a local spring in the Blue Hill area above the village.

Worked through stills and worm tubs for a muscular, oily spirit, to build a robust, sulphurous, full bodied character. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut to the robust spirit. By the integrating teens the sulphur fades and esters build, pineapple and wax growing over the oily spirit. The robust make rewards long ageing, the meatiness giving way to tropical fruit. The cool Speyside air gives a slow, even maturation, the young sulphur fading to fruit. The meaty, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while keeping its robust, worm tub weight.

At a hearty 54.5% it carries real weight. A robust, oily fruitiness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Soft tropical fruit and a waxy malt sit behind the cask. A long, oily finish carries a tropical depth. This is a meaty, tropical Speyside single malt.