Billed as the AEllachie event, this virtual Malt Nuts meetup was a clash of the llachies headed up with a challenge. Can you spot the differences in what you’re drinking? This wasn’t a direct challenge like when we did the Bourbon vs Rye with the SCWC, but more of a “Where’s Waldo” like when we did the Clynelish v Brora and the Caol Ila v Port Ellen Malt Nuts events. Reason being, there isn’t much indie Glenallachie out there.
There is a ton of indie Craigellachie out there, and more keeps coming, but the lesser appreciated Glenallachie is still new or unknown to many drinkers and doesn’t release a lot of casks for the indie market. Which you’ll definitely see in the reveal of our blind tasting below.
Malt Nuts: Craigellachie-Glenallachie: Round 1
1A: Old Particular Craigellachie 10 years (08-18): 48.4% – Refill Hogshead
- Nose: Acetone, fruity, malty, graham and a bit spirity.
- Palate: Spirity, fruity, malty and a bit smokey
- Finish: Long -> Spirity, fruity and a bit smokey
- Overall: (2 / 5) Comes through a bit hot and carries a subtle cakey sweetness. Though the spirity nature is turning me off a bit.
1B: Battlehill Craigellachie 8 years: 58% – “Oak Casks”
- Nose: Vomity, vanilla fondant, copper, meaty and vomity… did I say vomity?
- Palate: Dried orchard fruit, vanilla, copper, buttered popcorn jellybeans and a bit vomity.
- Finish: Long -> Spirity, bready, charred and vomity.
- Overall: (1 / 5) Comes through with some heat and has this completely off, vomity/butyric, character that makes it hard to enjoy at all.
1C: Exclusive Casks Craigellachie 12 years (03-16): 51.2% – “Oak Casks”
- Nose: Tannic, oaky, vanilla, char, cakey and a bit of baking spice.
- Palate: Copper, malt, vanilla, oak, graham, and a touch of toffee.
- Finish: Long -> Vanilla, malt and graham.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Good, simple and not hot. It opens to a slight blackberry note on the palate and finish.
1D: Single Cask Nation Craigellachie 13 years (05-19): 58.1% – 2nd Fill ex-Bourbon
- Nose: Meaty, fruity, spirity, charred, sweetness, roasted nuts.
- Palate: Candy sweetness, fruit, malt, spice, cereal grain sweet and some meatiness.
- Finish: Long -> Cakey sweet, oaky and roasty.
- Overall: (4 / 5) Yum, I’d buy this one. It’s a warm and lovely dram.
1E: Single Cask Nation Craigellachie 10 years (08-18): 67.3% – Refill ex-Bourbon
- Nose: Vomity, grapefruit, chili powder.
- Palate: Vomity, chili powder and minerally vanilla.
- Finish: Long -> Vomit and chili powder.
- Overall: (.5 / 5) The only reason it doesn’t get a 0 is that it’s at least interesting. Disgusting, but interesting,
Post-Reveal Commentary: I’ve never had a vomity/butyric Craigellachie, so I was wondering if B and E were Glenallachie at first. However, the more I sat with them the more I saw bits and pieces that made me think of Craigellachie and so I didn’t vote for any of these to be Glenallachie.
Malt Nuts: Craigellachie-Glenallachie: Round 2
2A: A.D. Rattray Craigellachie 9 years: 59.6%
- Nose: Sherry, graham, fruity raspberry candy, vanilla cream.
- Palate: Strawberry cream saver with a touch of toffee and malt.
- Finish: Long -> Candy and fondant sweet and waxy.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Starts creamsavers but gets a touch of caramel/toffee as it opens.
2B: Sovereign Craigellachie 12 years (06-18): 59.9% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Dried dark fruit, candy sweetness, vanilla frosting, toffee and malty sweetness.
- Palate: Dark dried fruit, candy, vanilla and malt and meaty char and leather.
- Finish: Long -> Sulfur, dark fruit, malt, leathery dark fruit.
- Overall: (4 / 5) Heavy, meaty and a touch sulfury, it opens to a fun and tasty whisky.
2C: Double Cask Nation Craigellachie 9 years (08-17): 63.7% – Oloroso Octaves
- Nose: Caramel, leathery fruit, citrus, oak, nuts and sulfur.
- Palate: Caramel, leathery dark fruit, citrus, oak, nuts and sulfur.
- Finish: Medium -> Copper, toffee and leather.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Quite nice, but nothing to write home about.
Post-Reveal Commentary: These all seemed fairly similar so I didn’t vote for any to be “dissimilar” in this round. And by dissimilar it was meant to be as Glenallachie. I was sure I was wrong, because I vaguely remembered breaking down at least one Glenallachie. But, I enjoy the blind aspect of these tastings so I really do try to pay as little attention as possible to what’s being broken down and bottled as possible and usually have a movie marathon going while breaking all of these down.
Malt Nuts: Craigellachie-Glenallachie: Bonus Round
Bonus: Hepburn’s Choice “Behind The Highlander” (Craigellachie) 14 years (06-20): 51.7%
- Nose: Vanilla, sugary, fruity and malty with a bit of graham and cocoa.
- Palate: Lightly fruity with soft herbal and malty notes and some cocoa.
- Finish: Medium -> Fruitm graham, cocoa and nuts.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Quite fruity and a bit different from the rest. Shows a slight similarity to 1A, but that’s it… could be the Glen.
Post-Reveal Commentary: Because of how different this one was, I was sure this was Glenallachie, but turns out there wasn’t one. Barry pulled a fast one on us.
The whole tasting ended up being Craigellachie, which is rather awesome because it kept us on our toes looking for something that ended up not being there. That searching forced us to lend an even more critical eye towards what we were drinking and that’s never bad. The trick paid off in our attention to what was in our glass.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this recap. Cheers!
