Cragganmore 20 Years Old 1991 Single Cask

By Barry Bradford on September 5, 2013 • ( Leave a comment )

Cragganmore 20 Year Old 1991 Cask 1157 (54.2%, Master of Malt, Cask 1157, 274 bottles, 2011)

Speyside single malt scotch whisky
54.2%ABV,
RRP £49.95 for 70cl
Score 85/100

What they say:

A 20 year old single cask Cragganmore. We absolutely love this, it has just the right amount of sweetness, and just the right amount of maturity. Distilled on the 8th March 1991 and bottled in March 2011, this is a refill hoggie-matured Speyside whisky, with an outturn of 274 bottles. Non-chillfiltered, with no artificial colouring. Just pure, unadulterated deliciousness!

Nose: Toasty and soft, with lots of sweet malt. Gentle oak, which offers up notes of cinnamon and vanilla.

Palate: Rounded and thick, with vanilla to the fore. This is not unlike a kind of alcoholic custard in fact, with more than a suggestion of apple strudel and stewed rhubarb. In the glass it becomes quite woody, and almost vegetal, with a hint of chamomile tea with honey in it.

Finish: Good length, tangy and spicy, with a little orange zest and some cocoa.

Overall: Spicy and rich, leave it in the glass and it opens up beautifully. Really a very complex whisky indeed.

What I say:

Having blitzed my way through the standard Cragganmore 12 year old offering from Diageo I couldn’t wait to get my hands on something more. I had already tried the Distillers edition via a friend and knew how good that was. Then I came across this bottling from Master of Malt’s own range. This was my first purchase from a specialist online whisky retailer and I couldn’t resist the age, distillery and the fact it was cask strength all for under £50. Plus I got a couple of master of malt glasses free! Bottle number 214 of 283 [9 bottles went missing already?], glad I grabbed this as soon as I could as it was sold out very very quickly. Fantastic unadulterated cask strength from Cragganmore, no fancy finishing here just pure Cragganmore spirit in a bourbon hogshead for 20 years. Yum yum yum, pure and simple old speyside whisky.

Colour:

Gold

Nose:

Like freshly painted oak wood, with a hint of malted barley. After water this opens out to peach jelly

Taste:

Complex marmalade and heather honey on toast, a hint of fireworks and a little peach. This turns to more apricot with water.

Finish:

Smooth and delicate with a slight bitter aftertaste like extremely dark chocolate or the skin off green peas. With water this becomes increasingly peppery and drying as the strong oak wood influences are released

Would I buy it again:

I would definitely buy more Cragganmore, even the 12 year old if that was all I could get my hands on. I would also re-purchase from Master of Malt own bottlings again [just last week I went for their latest 16 year old Inchmurrin – almost purely on their taste description]. So overall a great result. If you are not sure you could always buy samples from MOM, however be warned that good bottles fly off their electronic shelves pretty quickly.