This week of reviews of sherry cask whiskies from non-Island distilleries got off to a promising start with a young whisky from the new’ish English distillery, Bimber. For the second review of the week, we are back in Scotland, up in the Speyside, at Craigellachie. Craigellachie—like Mortlach—produce an atypical Speyside spirit. Both distilleries are among the few that still use wormtubs to condense their spirit; as a result both produce a heavy, meaty/savoury spirit. Sherry cask maturation can emphasize those qualities, and in the case of Craigellachie in particular, can bring out an organic, farmy note. Such was the case, for example, with a 15 yo bottled for K&L a couple of years ago. It’s a non-cookie cutter profile for sure. This particular cask, a single sherry butt, was bottled by the Single Malts of Scotland in 2022. That label is now operated by Elixir Distillers, which was spun off from the Whisky Exchange a few years ago; because I am old and resistant to change, I still think of it as a Whisky Exchange label. Get off my lawn.

Craigellachie 11, 2011 (53.5%; Single Malts of Scotland; butt #900095; from a bottle split)

Nose: Dirty sherry (something rotting in the undergrowth), a lot of salt, and a metallic/glassy note. The metallic/glassy note recedes as it sits. Water pushes the dirty/organic complex back and pulls out some fizzy citrus (orange soda)

Palate: Comes in mostly as indicated by the nose, minus the glassy/metallic note and with some char and toasted cereals added to the mix. Approachable at full strength with decent texture. Saltier on the second sip and then some sweet citrus pops out (orange). As it sits there’s a yeasty/bready quality that emerges as well. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. It tames the organic notes here as well and pushes the salt back a bit.

Finish: Long. The salt and the dirty sherry dominate here. More char here with time. With water the organic notes pop out later and linger.

Comments: If you like the dirty, savoury-style sherry, you will probably like this. I liked it better once the citrus emerged on the palate and better, on the whole, with water.

Rating: 85 points