Craigellachie 13 Years Old 2007 Cask #900657 (Valinch & Mallet)

From the bottler Valinch & Mallet, a 13 year old Craigellachie, distilled in 2007, from cask 900657, bottled at 54.1%, one of 318 bottles. Craigellachie is a robust, oily Speyside single malt made on worm tub condensers. It was rebuilt in 1965, but kept its worm tubs where most distilleries dropped them.

The spirit was distilled for the heavy, meaty spirit Craigellachie is known for, for a bold, meaty Speyside spirit. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit over the meaty, oily malt. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the malt, the robust body turning fruitier. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the meaty malt. The heavy, oily make is prized by blenders for the backbone it gives White Horse. Craigellachie is one of the last Speyside malts still built on worm tubs. The oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and tropical fruit over a meaty malt.

At cask strength 54.1% it is full bodied. A robust, oily fruitiness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is robust and waxy, the muscular spirit shining through. The finish is deep, oily and savoury. This is the muscular, meaty Speyside malt of Craigellachie.