Craigellachie Small Batch 33 Years Old 1983

An official release of Craigellachie, a 33 year old, from 1983, cask Batch 002301, at 46%, 1700 bottles in all. Craigellachie is a Speyside distillery in the village of the same name, famous for its muscular, meaty single malt. It sits at the village of Craigellachie, where the River Fiddich joins the Spey by Telford's iron bridge.

It was run through the distillery's stills and old fashioned worm tubs, building the old fashioned Craigellachie style. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding vanilla and a waxy tropical fruit. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and old oak as beeswax and tropical fruit linger. Craigellachie is one of the last Speyside malts still built on worm tubs. The heavy, oily make is prized by blenders for the backbone it gives White Horse. The robust make rewards long ageing, the meatiness giving way to tropical fruit.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow. Tropical fruit, malt and a warm spice, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Beneath it run meaty malt, tropical fruit and a waxy oil. A robust, malty finish ends on tropical fruit and a warm spice. This is an oily, tropical Speyside single malt.