Craigellachie 9 Years Old 2006 Grindlay’s Selection Single Cask Release (Scotland Grindlay Ltd.)

A Craigellachie of a 9 year old chosen by the bottler Scotland Grindlay Ltd, distilled in 2006, bottled at 64.1%, one of 292 bottles. Craigellachie is an old fashioned Speyside malt, full bodied and sulphurous in youth, tropical with age. Most of its make still goes to blending, a robust filler prized for its weight.

It was distilled in copper stills with worm tub condensers on Blue Hill spring water, to build a robust, sulphurous, full bodied character. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla and pineapple over the robust spirit. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit heavy, oily and robust. A big sherry cask suits the muscular spirit, dried fruit meeting the meaty weight. Bacardi's John Dewar and Sons bought it in 1998, alongside Aberfeldy, Aultmore and Royal Brackla. It sits at the village of Craigellachie, where the River Fiddich joins the Spey by Telford's iron bridge.

Bottled at a cask strength 64.1%, it is rich. Malt, dried fruit and a savoury oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Beneath it run meaty malt, tropical fruit and a waxy oil. The close is long, fruit over a meaty malt. This is an oily, tropical Speyside single malt.