Craigellachie 15 Years Old 2008 Cask #7540494 (Duncan Taylor)

From the Huntly bottler Duncan Taylor, a 15 year old Craigellachie, distilled in 2008, from cask 7540494, bottled at 54.3%, one of 93 bottles. Craigellachie is an old fashioned Speyside malt, full bodied and sulphurous in youth, tropical with age. It sits at the village of Craigellachie, where the River Fiddich joins the Spey by Telford's iron bridge.

The spirit was worked through stills and worm tubs for a muscular, oily spirit, building the old fashioned Craigellachie style. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and pineapple over the robust spirit. Into oxidative maturity, slow air ingress builds fruity ethyl esters (pineapple and mango) over the oily, meaty depth. The oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and tropical fruit over a meaty malt. It was launched as a single malt brand in 2014, with a bare knuckle, old fashioned image. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the meaty malt.

At its natural 54.3% it is concentrated. Mango, wax and a meaty depth, with a soft vanilla from the oak. It is robust and waxy, the muscular spirit shining through. The finish runs meaty, waxy and warm. This is the muscular, meaty Speyside malt of Craigellachie.