Craigellachie 12 Years Old 2007 Cask #DL 13066 (Old Particular)

A 12 year old Craigellachie from the Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing, distilled in 2007, from cask DL 13066, bottled at 48.4%, one of 351 bottles. Craigellachie is a Speyside distillery in the village of the same name, famous for its muscular, meaty single malt. The official range runs a thirteen, seventeen and twenty three year old, with rare older bottlings.

Run through the distillery's stills and old fashioned worm tubs, to build a robust, sulphurous, full bodied character. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak quiet behind the heavy spirit. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper, tropical fruit over the meaty malt. The slow loss of the angel's share concentrates the oily, tropical core over the years. Years in oak round the spirit, the worm tub weight turning to pineapple and wax.

At its natural 48.4% it is concentrated. Meaty malt, tropical fruit and a waxy oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Beneath it run meaty malt, tropical fruit and a waxy oil. A long, oily finish carries a tropical depth. This is Craigellachie, the meaty heart of White Horse.