Craigellachie 14 Year (SMWS 44.140 "The Fruits of One's Labor")

 

I have a particular fondness for Craigellachie - home of the most distinct apple-and-light-sulfur flavor in the business. It's always delicious, and the previous single cask offerings (as well as the very solid official bottling) I've had have all been excellent. 

So this bottle was immediately enticing. Here are the official notes: 

We were baking but instead of butter, we were using nut oils to make rye hazelnut chocolate chunk cookies and a pear, blackberry and coconut cake. On the palate neat plenty of dry spiciness as we chewed on water crackers served with spiced cranberry chutney using pumpkin pie spice, black pepper and a dash of hot pepper sauce. Takes water very well and as we poured ourselves a pint of smoked heather infused rich dark ale with sweeter flavours of cinnamon swirls, burnt raisin scones and dark chocolate quinoa crisps. After twelve years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a 2nd fill PX sherry hogshead. 

Nuts, rye, chocolate, pears, coconut! Quite a lineup. A dash of hot pepper sauce? Spiced cranberry chutney?? Smoked heather?? Quinoa crisps!? Color me intrigued. As the notes say, this spent 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, and then was transferred for another 2 year finish in a 2nd fill Pedro Ximenez hogshead. Bottled at a VERY robust 63.2%. Let's see if this lives up to the previous two SMWS bottlings I had from Craigellachie!

Nose: No surprises here - a rich basket of apples and a meaty sulfurous tinge. Despite the official notes, I get no nut oils but DO get light butter on the nose. Some chocolate is present. Some pear as well. Blueberries. Hints of malt barley. 

With water: More of the sherry notes come through. Raisins, prunes, chocolate. Light smoke. Red delicious apples. Gala apples. And that rich, complicated sulfur note hovers above everything. 

Mouthfeel: Viscous, thick. 

Palate: Pretty rich, although without water it has a lot of alcohol bloom. Surprisingly dry - more than the nose would suggest. Spices - allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon - along with pear and apple. Pepper for sure, this has a strong pepper influence. 

With water it follows the watered nose - red apples, yellow apples, green apples (ALL the apples) and an umami sulfur note that balances it all out. Really well balanced, here. A light cereal note too - almost like apple pie. Delicious. Yet it shows all 14 of its years - quite mature, doesn't come across as brash or young at all. Takes water well, which is good considering the high ABV. Cinnamon too. 

Finish: Pepper, baking spices, some wood notes last a medium amount of time. Average finish, nothing good, also nothing bad. 

Verdict: In keeping with my previous experience with Craigellachie. This is a little more mature than the other version, but only by a hair. Quite rich, full of apples and "meaty" sulfur. Powerful. Worthwhile. Pick this up if you can.