Chorlton Craigellachie 18yo

THE HOLY SPIRITS VIEW

Chorlton’s first Craigellachie, picked after a long search for a cask that balances the distillery’s chunky, industrial worm-tub spirit with drinkability. A single refill hogshead at eighteen years, only 273 bottles. Fat, oily and old-fashioned, directly connected to the barley and the process that made it.

THE DISTILLERY

Craigellachie was built in 1891 in the heart of Speyside and long worked behind the scenes in blends. It is one of the last Speyside distilleries still using worm tubs, a slower method that produces a heavier, meatier, more robust spirit than the region’s light, floral stereotype.

THE WHISKY: CRAIGELLACHIE 18 YEAR OLD

A single refill hogshead, bottled by independent Chorlton Whisky at natural cask strength, 52.3% ABV, with no chill-filtering and no added colour. 273 bottles.

TASTING NOTES

Baled hay, orange, olive oil, brioche, apples stored in a garden shed, a faint whiff of creosote somewhere nearby. Fat and oily on the palate, apples baked in salted butter, liquorice, waxed citrus, burnt sugar, greasy soot, a smidge of peanut butter. Finish pure barley, citrus and oil, elemental. Textural, old-school, very tasty. Gorgeous.

Serve: Neat, in a Glencairn glass.