Craigellachie 10 Years Old 2011 Cask #900094 (Elixir)

The bottler Elixir Distillers bottled this Craigellachie, a 10 year old, distilled in 2011, from cask 900094, bottled at 68.9%, one of 563 bottles. Craigellachie was built in 1891 and is one of the few distilleries still using worm tubs. It sits at the village of Craigellachie, where the River Fiddich joins the Spey by Telford's iron bridge.

Run through the distillery's stills and old fashioned worm tubs, for the muscular, meaty make Craigellachie is known for. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, vanilla and a tropical fruit over the meaty spirit. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper, tropical fruit over the meaty malt. The cool Speyside air gives a slow, even maturation, the young sulphur fading to fruit. The oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and tropical fruit over a meaty malt.

At a natural 68.9% it is full and honeyed. Mango, wax and a meaty depth, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Soft tropical fruit and a waxy malt sit behind the cask. The finish runs meaty, waxy and warm. This is Craigellachie's robust, oily Speyside style.