Cragganmore The Managers’ Choice 12 Years Old 1997

This official Cragganmore, a 12 year old, from 1997, cask 2398, at 59.7%, 246 bottles in all. Cragganmore is a Diageo Speyside distillery whose flat topped stills give a famously complex spirit. It was the first distillery deliberately sited beside a railway, the Strathspey line carrying its whisky out.

The spirit was worked through flat topped stills and worm tubs for a meaty, fragrant spirit, for the complex, fragrant make Cragganmore is known for. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the complex, fragrant spirit growing rounder. Long ageing turns the fresh fruit towards dried fruit, fig, leather and a warm spice. Years in oak round the spirit, the fruit deepening to dried fruit and a savoury spice. A Port wood finish, the Distillers Edition style, adds plum and dark berry to the malt.

At cask strength 59.7% it is full bodied. Malt, dried fruit and a herbal spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dried fruit and a malty depth give it weight. The finish is long, complex and savoury. This is Cragganmore's fragrant, meaty Speyside style.