Craigellachie 13 Years Old 1999 Vintage Collection (43%, Signatory, Bourbon Barrels #142 & 143, 637 Bottles, 2012)

• Speyside single malt scotch whisky
• 43% ABV, £36.67 for 70cl
• Score: 85/100

What they say:

Distilled on the 30th August 1999, this is a 13 year old, bourbon barrel-matured Craigellachie. It was bottled for Signatory in September 2012.

Nose: Spiced and rich with notes of pear drops and apple peel. Hints of porridge oats and a little aniseed.

Palate: Creamy, malty palate entry with notes of vanilla and soft spices. Nutmeg, toffee apple and manuka honey.

Finish: Lemon zest and sweet spices on the finish.

What I say:

Drinks by the dram (DBTD) sample purchased from Master of Malt as I hadn’t tried anything from Craigellachie. As part of my first year running The Whiskyphiles blog I was attempting to sample every whisky distillery in Scotland (present and recently past) where available. Some are still proving to be a little elusive. When I purchased this there were no official bottlings from Craigellachie though that is now not the case!

Colour:

Very light straw gold (3/20), medium tears

Nose:

Light honey, cereal barley, caramel oak, sweet and fruity (light & gentle) apple, pear, banana, fruit cocktail in syrup (canned fruit)

Taste:

Apple and pear mousse or jelly, creamy vanilla, honey, sweet, some cinnamon and nutmeg, toffee oak, drying and a little tannic leather, sours, pear drops and lemon barley sugars

Finish:

Medium, fruity, citric and sweet, lemon and limes, soor plum sweeties

Overall:

Another easy drinking and fruity speysider, this one had a little sourness making it a little mouth-puckering in places but this became moreish and made me want to re-dram to get back to the initial sweetness of the nose and initial palate.