Craigellachie Exceptional Cask Series 39 Years Old 1980

Craigellachie from the distillery, a 39 year old, from 1980, cask 2037, at 53%, 138 bottles in all. Craigellachie, where the Fiddich meets the Spey, is the meaty backbone of the White Horse blend. The official range runs a thirteen, seventeen and twenty three year old, with rare older bottlings.

Worked through stills and worm tubs for a muscular, oily spirit, for the muscular, meaty make Craigellachie is known for. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding vanilla and a waxy tropical fruit. In its ethereal years the malt is deep and oxidative, faded esters and a touch of sotolon (maple, spice). Worm tubs give little copper contact, so the new spirit is heavy and full, mellowing with time. Years in oak round the spirit, the worm tub weight turning to pineapple and wax. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the meaty malt. Most Craigellachie goes quietly into blends, a robust filler kept in part as single malt.

At its natural 53% it is concentrated. A robust, oily fruitiness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A baked fruit and a warm spice lift it. A long, oily finish carries a tropical depth. This is one of Speyside's most robust single malts.