I met the famous author and scotch whisky expert Charlie MacLean on Tuesday evening (4/12/22), at a Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") event. He's one of the great treasures of Scotland as far as whisky experts go, and I highly recommend his various books on the subject, which are thoroughly researched and very nicely written.
I'll cover that evening more in future posts, but I want to discuss this wild dram of chaos that I got to sip later in the night - SMWS of America director Tom Smith bought the whole room a dram (!), given only that it was (a) a Society bottle and (b) $30 or less (reasonable).
I couldn't resist this wild Craigellachie - matured entirely in a 2nd fill Oloroso butt for a scant 8 years and bottled at a truly staggering 68.2% (!!!). Here are the official notes:
Barrels of rich fruits and sweet spice rolled from the glass like a shipment of rum and raisin ice cream on a storm-torn pirate ship. Nutmeg and cloves united with Brazil nuts, dates and prune juice to create a succulent storm that rained down a torrent of mulled wine and onion gravy. Then fudge, butterscotch and banana bread delivered rich and sweet flavours that cascaded into coffee, orange and truffle oil. With water, pine forests appeared with almonds and walnuts that sweetened into marzipan. Burnt notes of soft brown sugar and singed sultanas married with calvados before ginger and blackcurrants appeared. Finally, maple syrup balanced a finish that was dominated by pumpkin seeds, bitter chocolate and dry tree bark.
After having tasted this, I can you straight up that much of that description is bunk. Maybe that's unkind... let's say that after nosing and sipping this dram for about 30 minutes, really taking my time, I encountered only a very small fraction of those notes, but DID encounter some crazy flavors they didn't mention. Here we go:
Nose: This is insanely funky on the nose. I get cool blue cheese, charred ham, an odd quick note of spoiled ham (like when you open a packet of deli meat that's been in the fridge a week too long), raw leather, and sulfurous sherry: grapes and big red cherries.
After you add a splash of water, the rum raisin note emerges, but it's shaky and gets overtaken easily. The stern level of alcohol here serves to numb your nose if you get too deep in the glass for too long.
Mouthfeel: VERY thin - one of the thinnest I can remember - without the usual offset of oil or smoothness. Just ... thin. I wonder if that's a factor of the alcohol.
Palate: This is easily one of most meaty, sulfurous whiskies I've had in years. This first presents on the tongue as sweet - brown sugar, ripe cherries, and diet cherry cola - that quickly becomes burnt matchsticks, and that amplifies into a big meaty sulfur note. Oddly, the alcohol wave I expected never comes - it's hot, but it presents as very bright rather than forceful.
It's like the standard Craigellachie note, combined with a rather sulfurous sherry butt, combine into one super-sulfur beast. Other, lesser notes include brazil nuts, leather, old dry-aged ham, and brown sugar. Standard dry sherry notes. I would say that brown sugar and meat are the main two flavors here, especially after a little water.
Finish: Dry leather, black cherries, ham, and freshly lit matches.
Verdict: I hardly know what to make of this! It's more pirate ship than storm, that's for sure. I wondered when I saw the stats why they would bottle Craigellachie so young... now I realize, this was in mortal danger of becoming too sulfurous to be palatable.
It's not quite at an "off note" yet - like baby vomit or something - but it's really, almost hilariously meaty. Like the inside of a roast pork loin combined with matches, served with a side of cherries bundled in a leather jacket, all of it topped with a handful of brown sugar. Just crazy stuff. But fun! I can't recommend this in good faith, but it's a real adventure. Especially at 68.2%, good lord. You've been warned.
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