Craigellachie 8 Years Old 2013 Cask #AM 067 (Asta Morris)

This Craigellachie was bottled by the bottler Asta Morris, an 8 year old, distilled in 2013, from cask AM 067, bottled at 61.3%, one of 706 bottles. Craigellachie is a Bacardi owned Speyside distillery whose worm tubs give a heavy, meaty spirit. It was launched as a single malt brand in 2014, with a bare knuckle, old fashioned image.

Distilled in copper stills with worm tub condensers on Blue Hill spring water, to build a robust, sulphurous, full bodied character. 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 robust make rewards long ageing, the meatiness giving way to tropical fruit. It was rebuilt in 1965, but kept its worm tubs where most distilleries dropped them. Bacardi's John Dewar and Sons bought it in 1998, alongside Aberfeldy, Aultmore and Royal Brackla.

At 61.3%, undiluted, it is deep and fruity. A muscular, waxy sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Soft tropical fruit and a waxy malt sit behind the cask. The finish is long, oily and savoury. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real character.