Cragganmore 17 Year (SMWS 37.136 "Bar Nibbles")

 

Second sample from the September 2022 outturn of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") at the Jack Rose Saloon here in Washington DC. 

This is a rather unsung distillery - Cragganmore - founded in 1869 by John Smith on land that was partly chosen due to its proximity to the local railway in Banffshire. Smith was an old hand in the Scotch whisky trade, having managed Macallan, Glenfarclas, and Glenlivet, at least, prior to founding Cragganmore. 

Currently Cragganmore is owned by Diageo, and forms part of their blends. 

Here are the official notes:

Nosing this one we immediately thought of Manhattan Skyscrapers, not the buildings but the cocktail! Whisky, sweet and dry vermouth a dash of old-fashioned bitters and topped up with ginger ale. On the palate a chocolatey, creamy and crunchy treat emerged of chocolate coconut ice cream with Macadamia nuts. After we added water, we got served Teriyaki beef jerky as nibbles accompanying the cocktail while to taste full flavoured, still very powerful but honest and unpretentious peppermint cocoa roasted nuts, dried cranberries and damson ice cream. Following fifteen years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a 2nd fill Oloroso hogshead. 

Very interesting cocktail-oriented tasting notes here. This was a fairly popular whisky at the tasting. Bottled at 59.8% ABV, let's see how this sherry finish turned out:

Nose: Lots of bright citrus - orange, tangerine, tangelo, clementines - paired with vanilla and caramel. The result is something like orange creamsicle. Also notes of perfume (flowers), sherry (as expected) and tobacco. With a drop of water, some chocolate emerges with the tobacco and it gets drier on the nose.

Mouthfeel: Oily and resinous: nice. 

Palate: Highland-ish: dry, leathery, chocolatey, herbal, a bit astringent, and a bit sour. I would actually somewhat agree with the official "Teriyaki" note. The palate here is much less sweet than the nose, and the nice citric notes vanish almost completely. 

Finish: Oaky, tangy, dry, tart. Medium length. 

Verdict: I liked this; the room seemed to agree. That said, I didn't overhear anyone saying they absolutely had to have this. It was more like "Wow... Cragganmore, who knew?" The sherry finish on this was moderately successful, but the overall impression is a dry, leathery, chocolatey one. I wanted a little more sweetness, a little more fruit maybe. Still, not at all bad stuff.