Craigellachie 10 Years Old 2012 Cask #DL 18155 (Provenance)

This Craigellachie was bottled by the Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing, a 10 year old, distilled in 2012, from cask DL 18155, bottled at 46%, one of 345 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.

It was distilled in copper stills with worm tub condensers on Blue Hill spring water, building the old fashioned Craigellachie style. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and pineapple over the robust spirit. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper, tropical fruit over the meaty malt. Craigellachie is one of the last Speyside malts still built on worm tubs. It keeps its worm tub condensers, an old fashioned set up that builds a heavy, meaty, sulphurous spirit. Worm tubs give little copper contact, so the new spirit is robust and full, mellowing to tropical fruit with age.

At 46% it is smooth and honeyed. Malt, dried fruit and a savoury oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A baked fruit and a warm spice lift it. Tropical fruit, malt and a savoury oak see out the finish. This is Craigellachie's robust, oily Speyside style.