Craigellachie is a mainstay Scotch distillery that's been around since 1891, it's best known by those familiar with Scotch as one of the 'meaty' or 'beefy' whiskies whose flavour profile tends to be more savoury and umami, as a result of its prominent use of a special piece of equipment called a wormtub - and perhaps more than anything, it's a distillery that really ought to be better known.

The distillery is named after the village of Craigellachie, in the Speyside area of Scotland, which once served as an important transport hub that featured numerous railway lines passing through. These were critical back in the day as it allowed ingredients to be brought to the distilleries, and for Scotch to be shipped out of the distilleries. The name Craigellachie itself is taken to mean 'rocky hill', which is a reference to a cliff that overlooks the Spey River across from the Macallan Distillery.

The Craigellachie Distillery.

When the distillery was built, it was designed to create a whisky that was lighter and fruitier, and was commissioned by Sir Peter Mackie, who was behind the historic Scotch blend, White Horse, and one Alexander Edward, who was already at the time operating the Benrinnes Distillery, and would later go on to also build Benromach, Aultmore, and Dallas Dhu distilleries. What a guy! Nevertheless, with so many distilleries to operate, Edward would eventually hand it over fully to Mackie, and Craigellachie's whiskies would form a core part of some of the blends Mackie created. Eventually White Horse and all its brands were acquired by numerous major Scotch entities and finally came to become part of the John Dewar's stable, which itself now belongs to Bacardi - making Craigellachie part of the Bacardi family.

So what's so special about Craigellachie? As mentioned, it's all about that worm tub! The worm tub is a sort of condenser that comes at the end of a pot still (where distillation happens), and allows the alcoholic spirit that's just been distilled in vapour form, to quickly condense back into liquid form, ready to go through distillation all over again. This condenser, made of copper and constantly supplied with cold water, has the effect of minimising the alcohol's contact with copper, and thus reduces the copper's ability to strip out sulphur from the whisky's body. And while the word 'sulphur' may sound undesirable, it actually tends to fade away on its own with time, leaving a more beefy whisky that's more fragrant and fuller.

Worm tubs hanging out outside the distillery.

The thing about worm tubs is that they're hard to maintain and costly, and so not nearly as many distilleries today feature the use of worm tubs, even though some of the most highly regarded Scotch distilleries from Brora and Rosebank, to Talisker, Springbank, Mortlach, and of course Craigellachie, all use them as a big part of achieving their flavour profile.

Personally I've found that Craigellachie tends to fly under the radar, perhaps due to the lack of marketing (just look at that old time-y label that would scream "rebrand!" in today's Scotch business; although I personally like the label alot), or not sporting much in the way of new and limited releases, and so as the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind" - and that's just unfortunate considering that Craigellachie produces an incredibly distinctive and interestingly complex whisky that's very much easy to find and at a pretty good price. 

So today we're going to give a long overdue review to the classic Craigellachie 13 Years Old that comes straight from the distillery itself.

Whisky Review: Craigellachie 13 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Amber / Copper

Aroma: In the glass it opens up with big notes - there's alot going on here. It starts off with a mustiness of antique stores or a wooden attic, there's this somewhat high toned note of breakfast ham, cooked cabbage, consomme, it's meaty, savoury and umami. A slight metallic quality of copper wires, burnt plastic. Also some sugared oats, this big cereal scent to it too, lots of oatmeal coated in icing sugar. Towards the back there's more on forest floors after a rain shower, wet moss, wet tobacco and browned leaves, worn leather, and cocoa powder too. There's also flecks of tropical fruits of pineapples and bananas that's light but prominent, with an outline of orange peels. At the base there's some stewed field strawberries - the small sort that's sour and tart - also some cooked prunes, figs, poached and spiced pears, red apples. There's also a slight tree resin note too, even alittle bit waxy. There's alot going on, yet it's not heavy or dense.

Taste: Some sweetness at first with toffee, caramel, honey, frosted oats, also that meatiness comes through too. It's savoury and umami, kind of beefy, like dried beef but not so strong, along with some consomme and vegetable stock. There's still that tropical note, like a sort of pineapple cream, coconut cream, as well as some red apples. There's a slight nuttiness too of crushed walnuts, as well as more of this dusty forest floor and browned leaves quality. It's alittle lighter bodied than expected, leaning sweeter with broad strokes of savoury umaminess (alittle salty even like salt beef), at times alittle sour alittle like wet dough, with flecks of copper. Also with a good serving of baking spices of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, as well as some leather-y tones. Accented by some burnt orange peels.

Finish: That complexity carries through to the finish, here there's some minty quality to it, stewed plums, more of the consomme and salt beef. Tucked in the toffee is some more chocolate coated orangettes, chocolate covered almonds, yet not entirely sweet. There's a slight sourness as well, which comes off a little funky and barnyard-like. Drops of fish sauce too. In the aftertaste is that pineapple cream. A fairly long finish.

My Thoughts

I've always found Craigellachie to be a rather underrated whisky, and tasting it again after quite some time, it's only confirmed to me that that is truly the case - here you have an incredibly complex and distinctive Scotch that's in that class of beefy, meaty worm-tub led whiskies that you don't find so many instances of (with the other major brand, hint: the Beast of somewhere, being much more pricey than this). It's layered, complex, distinct, and yet remains very approachable. I'd even contend that this is far more approachable than giving someone a smoky, peaty Islay whisky. 

It's a flavour trip that I'd even call gastronomic - it's a jigsaw puzzle of confectionary, savoury, umami, briny, meaty, fruity flavours that are so well-integrated. To that end, it feels like a talking piece at an incredibly bang for buck price - something that'll turn heads and serve up some intrigue - it'll definitely make you take notice and pay it attention.

Unfortunately, it never seems to catch the winds of marketing that gets more folks to try it, and I've heard some folks find its label alittle too daunting and overstimulating (even though I personally like it alot), and so Craigellachie tends to get passed up despite seriously punching above its weight.

Perhaps the only thing I'd want more out of this is richness and body, to really deliver all that complexity without this inkling fear of it getting thin or dry. And if it was made alittle more punchy - it's really mellow with barely any burn - I'd count that as injecting some nice intensity and energy into it as well, adding to that memorable presence.

Yet ultimately this is incredibly underrated, delivers much in complexity, it's interesting, approachable, and heck, I'll say it - even gastronomic. It's got a lot going on, and big points for keeping to that distinctive identity and flavour profile that is an area of Scotch that should warrant way more attention. If you haven't, this is your sign to try Craigellachie.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot