Craigellachie 7 Years Old 2008 Cask #9548 (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co Ltd.)

The bottler The Vintage Malt Whisky Co Ltd bottled this Craigellachie, a 7 year old, distilled in 2008, from cask 9548, bottled at 46%, one of 360 bottles. Craigellachie is a Bacardi owned Speyside distillery whose worm tubs give a heavy, meaty spirit. It keeps its worm tub condensers, an old fashioned set up that builds a heavy, meaty, sulphurous spirit.

The spirit was made in copper stills whose worm tubs build a robust make, for a bold, meaty Speyside spirit. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit over the meaty, oily malt. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over a robust, sulphurous malt. The heavy, oily make is prized by blenders for the backbone it gives White Horse. Long ageing turns the young, sulphurous spirit towards mango, wax and a warm spice. With age the meaty young spirit turns to pineapple, mango and a waxy depth.

At an approachable 46% it is soft and easy. A robust, oily fruitiness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run meaty malt, tropical fruit and a waxy oil. The finish is deep, oily and savoury. This is a meaty, tropical Speyside single malt.