Craigellachie 11 Years Old 2008 (Hepburn’s Choice)

The independent Hunter Laing bottled this Craigellachie, an 11 year old, distilled in 2008, bottled at 46%, one of 372 bottles. Craigellachie sits above Telford's famous Spey bridge, a Speyside distillery of real muscle. The official range runs a thirteen, seventeen and twenty three year old, with rare older bottlings.

The spirit was distilled in copper stills with worm tub condensers on Blue Hill spring water, for an oily, robust make that turns tropical with age. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla and pineapple beneath the muscular malt. In integration lactones (coconut) and vanillin (vanilla) knit with the malt, the worm tub weight softening to tropical fruit. The slow loss of the angel's share concentrates the oily, tropical core over the years. The meaty, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while keeping its robust, worm tub weight. The heavy, oily make is prized by blenders for the backbone it gives White Horse.

At 46% it is clean and soft. Malt, dried fruit and a savoury oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is full and oily, the fruit lifted by a meaty weight. The finish is long, oily and savoury. This is a meaty, tropical Speyside single malt.