August 3, 2014

The Short Sessions, two Cragganmore

Cragganmore 2000 ‘Distillers Edition’ (40%, OB, Port finish, CggD 6565, 2013)

Cragganmore 2000/2013 ‘Distillers Edition’ (40%, OB, Port finish, CggD 6565)

Colour: gold. Nose: a fresh and fragrant nose, rather on oranges and apple juice, with discrete whiffs of wood smoke. Becomes more cake-y after a few seconds, with biscuits, a little malt, roasted nuts and a little fudge. It’s light and rather fresh, without any winey notes. Jolly nice nose, let’s hope it’s not to flat on the palate. Mouth: it’s more honey that we find, but there are always a lot of oranges. Then custard and more and more roasted malt, Ovaltine, cornflakes and gingerbread. The arrival’s fine, the middle is thinner. Finish: a little short, but clean and pleasantly malty. The oranges are always there in the aftertaste. Comments: too bad it’s a little thin on the palate, because I find the juice fresh and pleasant. SGP:441 - 79 points.

Cragganmore 15 yo 1999/2014 (53.3%, Malts of Scotland, bourbon hogshead, cask #MoS 14015, 247 bottles)

Officially nicknamed ‘Craggenmore’. Colour: white wine. Nose: starts a little raw, buttery, mashy and then more estery, with a lot of apples and gooseberries. Raw malt, custard, a little oil (sunflower)… It’s a very ‘naked’ one so far. With water: notes of wet clothes, porridge, chalk, grass and vanilla… It’s very natural indeed. Mouth (neat): starts with touches of varnish, goes on with many tart fruits, green apples, kiwis, lemons… Also notes of lager beer. Very naked indeed. With water: same profile. Let’s add a few marshmallows, and a little more bitter grass. Finish: quite long, very barleyish. Ripe apples and cornflakes plus a little grass again. Peppery aftertaste. Comments: more body than the official, but a both narrower and grassier profile. Very honest, very natural, but it won’t make you ecstatic, I’d say. Same score. SGP:351 - 79 points.

Check the index of all Cragganmore I've tasted so far