Craigellachie 24 Year (1995) Excellent Cask Series

Scotch Whisky Review : Craigellachie 24 Year (1995) Excellent Cask Series

Distillery: Craigellachie.

Region: Speyside.

Age: 24 Year. Distilled on October 25th, 1995. Bottles on June 3rd, 2020.

ABV: 52.2%.

Cask Number: 5229.

Cask Type: Sherry butt.

Price: Pour courtesy of /u/herr_maltenberg.

Color: 1.4, Tawny.

This is the seventh installment of this year’s Christmas Countdown. You can find previous installments here.

Nose: This seems a little closed off at full strength. adding some water seems to do the trick giving a nice ginger and onion medley. I’m thinking of spring onions and a few other kinds. There are some herbaceous notes as well, more akin to a dried herb mix. The combination comes off a lot like Funyuns and french onion chip dip mix. This has a has a real heft to it and feels like it is dragging your nose into the glass.

Palate: Similar to the nose, seems rather closed off at full strength. Certainly punches harder than 52.2% as well. Thankfully with water, it does loosen up a bit. Overall it feels a lot lighter than the nose for sure. You get a lot of fruit notes, particularly of cherries and raisins. Something that reminds me of ruby chocolate and goji berries comes through as well.

Finish: Medium to long in length. Blood orange pulp and craisins along with a little bit of leather varnish.

Conclusion: It’s been while since I’ve had a Craigellachie, the last one I had was actually another from the Exceptional Cask Series so I had fairly high expectations for this one. It is a shy whisky but thankfully gets going nicely with water. The nose has a really fun combination of Funyuns and french onion chip dip is really inviting. The fruit and ruby chocolate on the palate and finish is super tasty and enjoyable. Overall, I’m pretty pleased to have tried this whisky!

Rating: 85.

Scotch Whisky Review , Speyside Review , Whisky Network Review

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

Leave a comment