Craigellachie 15 Years Old 2007 (Phil & Simon Thompson)

This Craigellachie was bottled by the bottler Phil & Simon Thompson, a 15 year old, distilled in 2007, bottled at 51.6%, one of 213 bottles. Craigellachie is an old fashioned Speyside malt, full bodied and sulphurous in youth, tropical with age. It was rebuilt in 1965, but kept its worm tubs where most distilleries dropped them.

The spirit was worked through stills and worm tubs for a muscular, oily spirit, for an oily, robust make that turns tropical with age. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak quiet behind the heavy spirit. In the oxidative middle years oxidation draws out a deeper tropical fruit, vanillin and lactones fully expressed. A big sherry cask suits the muscular spirit, dried fruit meeting the meaty weight. Long ageing turns the young, sulphurous spirit towards mango, wax and a warm spice. The meaty, oily spirit takes cask flavour well while keeping its robust, worm tub weight.

At a natural 51.6% it is full and honeyed. Tropical fruit, malt and a warm spice, with a soft vanilla from the oak. It is robust and waxy, the muscular spirit shining through. The finish is long, oily and savoury. This is Craigellachie's robust, oily Speyside style.