Craigellachie 16 Years Old 2007 Cask #Batch 12.1207.38 (Mossburn – Distillers & Blenders)

A 16 year old Craigellachie from the bottler Mossburn - Distillers & Blenders, distilled in 2007, from cask Batch 12.1207.38, bottled at 52.4%. Craigellachie, where the Fiddich meets the Spey, is the meaty backbone of the White Horse blend. Worm tubs give little copper contact, so the new spirit is robust and full, mellowing to tropical fruit with age.

Drawn off pot stills cooled by traditional worm tubs, building the old fashioned Craigellachie style. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and pineapple over the robust spirit. In the oxidative middle years oxidation draws out a deeper tropical fruit, vanillin and lactones fully expressed. The oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and tropical fruit over a meaty malt. The distillery was founded in 1891 by a group led by Peter Mackie, the man behind the White Horse blend. It sits at the village of Craigellachie, where the River Fiddich joins the Spey by Telford's iron bridge.

At a natural 52.4% it is full and honeyed. A robust, oily fruitiness, 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 an oily, tropical Speyside single malt.