Craigellachie 8 Years Old 2014 Romantic Rhine Edition Weinhäuschen am Rhein (Feinkost Reifferscheid)

An 8 year old Craigellachie from the bottler Feinkost Reifferscheid, distilled in 2014, bottled at 46%, one of 60 bottles. Craigellachie is a Bacardi owned Speyside distillery whose worm tubs give a heavy, meaty spirit. Most of its make still goes to blending, a robust filler prized for its weight.

It was worked through stills and worm tubs for a muscular, oily spirit, building the old fashioned Craigellachie style. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak quiet behind the heavy spirit. 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. The cool Speyside air gives a slow, even maturation, the young sulphur fading to fruit. The oily spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and tropical fruit over a meaty malt.

At 46% it is smooth and honeyed. Tropical fruit, malt and a warm spice, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is full and oily, the fruit lifted by a meaty weight. The finish is deep, oily and savoury. This is a meaty, tropical Speyside single malt.