Craigellachie 13yo Bas-Armagnac
Official Bottling | 46% ABV
Can the brilliant core range 13 be pipped at the post?
When I first popped the Craigellachie 13yo core range, I realised Speyside whiskies might just be worth exploring further after all.
I’d fallen off the love train with Speyside owing to a slight fading of my interest for big sherry bomb drams, and my Speyside stash features mostly big sherry bomb drams, such as the Aberlour A’Bunadh, GlenAllachie 10yo and the indie Glenrothes Alistair Walker Whisky Company “Raisin in a Glass” 11yo. Until I’d dispatched them from the glowing supershelf, I wasn’t looking at Speyside.
The issue I have with a Speyside sherry bomb dram is they can be a bit too cloying, a bit too dark and fruity, almost teetering over to sour. I’m finding my palate now sings most when I pass brighter, more bourbon-forward whiskies across it - especially whiskies that have a bit more complexity, such as Glen Scotia or the Abbey Whisky exclusive Benromach. I’m not avoiding sherry casks entirely, because some of the most enjoyable drams I’ve had recently are single sherry casks or vattings of both bourbon and sherry. For example, I really enjoyed the Bladnoch Vinaya and a Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tasting Ben Nevis 9yo, finished in a Manzanilla sherry cask, has me swooning. The Abbey Whisky single cask of Bimber, finished entirely in Oloroso cask #125.1/9A, is stonkingly good and a recent sample of a Tomatin hand-fill 17yo, matured entirely in an ex-sherry cask was like smelling a biryani curry and drinking cherry tiffin wrapped around a raw honey core. Amazing whiskies.
So when the Craigellachie 13yo, in all its mellow-yellow labelled, worm-tubby deliciousness passed over my palate, I knew there was more work to be done in Speyside. I went through that bottle quicker than any other bottle I’ve had to date… well, maybe the Ardnamurchan Cask Strength went quicker. As the last few drams transferred from bottle to glass, I flicked open my laptop and punched in Craigellachie to Google. I was intent on buying another bottle because it should be on everyone’s whisky shelf, but something caught my eye - a 13 year old Craigellachie with a white label. What was this witchcraft? Is this an older bottling?
The opposite turned out to be true - this was a brand new bottling of the core range 13 but finished in a Bas-Armagnac French oak cask. I just so happened to find it a day or two after it had been launched. For £48, I didn’t hesitate to purchase it because taking a spirit I’ve connected with positively and seeing how it changes, depending on how that base spirit is finished, is something I’m really interested in.
More recently I tried the Na Bràithrean experiment with a brotherly twinning of Caol Ila, and exited the experience with disappointment surrounding that very potent example of taking a base spirit and finishing it two separate ways. Would the Craigellachie be the same, or would there be a clearer difference between the two 13 year old expressions?
Review
Craigellachie 13yo Bas-Armagnac, 46% ABV
£50 and generally available
I’m really fond of the Craigellachie branding and this one is no different - white label, ye olde worlde design and a nice robust bottle set the scene for what is to come - a robust and sure-footed whisky. There’s an immediately brighter feel to this French version; not as dense and heavy. It takes a while for the smell to start registering - maybe the whisky needs that life-line of oxygen to get the motor going again, but when it does, it’s all zing and sharp edges.
Nose
Bright and fruity. Pastry and bread. Mango and tropics. Tablet. Mineralic stone; dusty. Wet tarmac and orange peel. A big inhale gives tobacco leaves in a wood-clad study.
Palate
Lime, citrus, espresso, earthy. Sharper coffee. Parma violets, doughy sultanas, toffee and caramel but laced with biting zest. Honey served on overly ripe sourdough.
The Dregs
This is an interesting whisky, not because of the fabulous price and natural presentation, but because, to all extents and purposes, it forms an extension of the core range 13 year old. It’s taking that base spirit and turning the more potent zingy notes to maximum; the underneath remains identifiably familiar, but with a top-coat of big fresh lime juice.
Where the core range is emphasising the seductive caramel ribbons and robust, hefty flavour delivery of that 13 year old Craigellachie spirit, the finish in French oak emphasises more of those citrus notes. The key components of Craigellachie - the dusty minerality and tropical smorgasbord are still present, albeit in the background now, and there’s very little, if any saltiness. The match striker note in the core 13 is non-existent here. I happen to be a huge citrus fan and by that I mean I can sit and eat a whole lime and enjoy it, so to find big zingers inside the bold Craigellachie signature is really exciting. I’m not sure if others would assign it as an overload of astringency, or even an overt tartness and as a result consider it too sharp - it’s all about perspective and what your exposure to smell and taste has been so far, isn’t it?
So the takeaway for me is this: If you enjoyed the Craigellachie 13yo core range, and fancy a bit more of a cutting edge thrill, then this expression might just do it for you. I think I’ll be replacing it with the core range yellow-label once it’s gone - I just love that drift into the golden ocean too much, and the appearance of citrus blasters keeps shaking me out of my amber haze.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC