Old Particular Craigellachie 18 – A Distinctive Sherry Bomb

Dewar’s single malt distilleries (except for Aberfeldy which has been available on the market as a single malt) are making their first strides into the single malt market , spearheaded by Craigellachie. But Dewar’s malts were readily available before this move, if you knew where to look. Douglas Laing’s fruitful relationship with much of the whisky world makes their line pretty extensive, and the relationship with Dewar’s makes single cask bottlings of Craigellachie and Altmore rather abundant.

As I mentioned when reviewing the Aultmore XO, there was a bottling of an 18 year old Craigellachie at the Duty Free shop at Ben Gurion Airport, but I haven’t tasted it.

I did, however, spend quite a bit of time at the Douglas Laing stand at the Whisky Show, and got to taste several of the whiskies on offer, including a sherry butt matured Craigellachie 18, likely from a sister cask to the one here in TLV. I’ll have notes for the other three expressions in the near future.

Photo Credit: homeofmalts.com

Photo Credit: homeofmalts.com

Douglas Laing Old Particular Craigellachie 18
Single Sherry Butt DL10419, Distilled 11.95 and Bottled 8.2014, 1/252 bottles (48.4% ABV, NCF, NC)

Appearance: Amber, legs are thick and slow.

Nose: Classic sherry nose with dried fruit (dried apricots, prunes and notes of dried sugared ginger), sultana raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg. A little bit of water enhances the sherry sweetness.

Palate: Starts out sweet and mouth drying with a wash of spices coming in with cinnamon and cayenne pepper.

Linger: Somewhat dry and medium in length with cinnamon and pepper on the tongue and a lasting sweet note overall.

Conclusion

Classic sherry bomb, hitting all the “right” notes with a curious ginger and cayenne pepper giving this bottle a distinction.

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