I’ve recently done many blind tastings (the whisky calendar, the Black Friday samples), which demands a lot of thinking and analysing — especially with only a 2cl sample! Today I was more in the mood for enjoyment/indulgence with less pressure, and after perusing my treasury of whisky sample for a while until my eyes fell upon a few Craigellachie samples and my mouth stared watering. This distillery won me over not long ago, and I’m certain I’ll enjoys these drams a lot, despite likely imperfections. And since they’re all 5cl I can drink half, and if my tasting notes are incomplete I have a second chance at some other time (soon, before oxidation does too much of its magic).
Craigellachie | “Small Batch Edition #5” | 11yo (2012) | 48.2% | Signatory Vintage
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
This ‘un sports a somewhat dirty and dusty sherry profile along with some very overripe tropical fruits. Mushy banana and deep-yellow pineapple meet egg tart with a cinnamon dusting. There’s a dirty dishrag in an old oak drawer somewhere nearby. Zesty orange and a bit of booziness freshen up.
Sipping
Good drinking strength. There’s a a nice development, with fruit punsch and digestive biscuits at the fore in the beginning leading into dried fruits, leather, tobacco, and funk (vegemite?). Not particularly sweet, more towards savoury and bitter. Chinese prickly ash in the early finish, but what lingers are the fruits.
💭 Comments
I like this a lot, and there’s a lot of the spirit character here; definitely not a sherry-drenched impression. The only thing dragging it down a little for me is the spiciness. Still, it could potentially beat the regular 13yo, but I’d have to do a side-by-side.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
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Signatory succeed yet again
Craigellachie | 10yo (2011) | 60.0% | Elixir Distillers
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
This one is really stiff until it’s had a good spoonful of water and plenty of time to open up. Orange peel, buttery sherry notes and coconut, and a hoppy beer.
Sipping
Has do be watered down a plenty. Quite meaty, medium sweet. Flavours of bruised apples, orange marmalade, unripe mango, cereal, turrón, and a nutty finish.
💭 Comments
Rather lacking in complexity, but it’s nonetheless tasty. One would really need to experiment with water and oxidation to tame this one.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
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OK, but a bit cantankerous
Craigellachie | 16yo (2008) | 59.9% | Alambic Classique
from a 5cl sample bottle
🗒️ Tasting notes
Nosing
Another one that needs a lot of taming to deliver. The dominating aspects are sticky sherry, dry woody and herbal notes. Dates, Christmas spices (cardamom in particular), candied orange, yeast and newly baked bread. Add to that pine resin, rosemary and thyme, crispy chicken skins, and a slight rubber/sulphur note.
Sipping
Briny, malty and meaty, with some dried but indistinct tropical fruits coming on at first, along with cheese and ham platter, and some toasted nuts, and spiciness.
💭 Comments
This one could grow on me with the time to find the right level of dilution and oxidation over the course of drinking a full bottle; the second half of the dram had a couple days later was already a lot better than the first. But given the relative plenty of IB Craigellachie’s this is surely not the one to spend the money on.
Deliciousness
Fun factor
Value for money
Punchline
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Will the patient be rewarded?
In the end the Singatory 11yo was the best dram for me!
DuckDrams 
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