ABV: 46 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and malty. At first there’s an icing sugar sweetness and a sour maltiness coming through. There are green apples, toffee and a squeeze of lemon sitting in the middle. After a while the sweetness becomes honey and vanilla and merges with the toffee notes. It takes a while for the sherry fruits to arrive but when they do it’s a mix of fresh forest berries. There’s also a mild minty cloud hovering above everything. This is a great nose which highly benefits from time in the glass.

Mouth: It starts out with a round core of butterscotch and citrus fruits. It soon reveals a nice black pepper spicyness. The sherry notes are now much darker and have become a mix of dried raisins and dades together with notes of citrus fruits. Meanwhile the background gets filled with bitter zest and oak. It feels quite lively and produces a lot of flavours and sensations.

Finish: It starts out with the black pepper note and the butterscotch. The fruitiness is very subdued which leaves room for the oakiness to step forward early. It’s still connected to the bitter zesty lemon notes yet it feels quite dry and dusty. The maltiness is still coming through as the finish subsides. This is a great whisky which presents itself with standard flavours, but does so in a rich and engaging way.

Additional information
The 13 YO is the entry level to Craigellachie’s core range released in 2014. It’s aged in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.