Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 53.4%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon hogshead
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Whisky Facile
Average price: € 95.00
Official website: Whisky Facile
Today we taste, guiltily late in the release, a selection of Whisky Facile dating back to 2023 and belonging to the Black Cat Series: a Craigellachie distilled in 2009 and matured for 14 years in a single ex bourbon hogshead (the #90305000), before being bottled at 53.4%ABV in 300 bottles still available.
Tasting Notes
The colour is an intense gold.
On the nose, the first clear impression is sulphurous, and is maintained, with slight variations in intensity, throughout the olfactory analysis. Notes of liquorice, tobacco, Oro Saiwa biscuits and cereal define an aromatic range enriched by a touch of black pepper. In the background, a mirage of smoke, before a hint of Worcester sauce, cream and a fruity lunge of yellow apple take over.
On the palate, Worcester sauce, black pepper (here a generous sprinkling) and tobacco (if possible even more aromatic) return from the nose. Streaks of bergamot, smoked meringue and leather complete a very specific ensemble that accounts for both the distillery’s imprinting and the cask’s contribution. A metallic vein, like the bonnet of a car left out in the sun, opens the door to a medium-persistence finish in which a smoky, cereal, boiled meat, yellow apple wink and a dash of black pepper return.
I have not enjoyed the privilege of tasting all the bottlings of our friends at Whisky Facile, but this is one of our favourites. Either because it gives commendable visibility to a distillery which, in the variegated panorama of Speyside, is less talked about than it deserves; or because it restores with crystalline aromatic clarity its principal markers, in a drink which can therefore be described as exemplary for several reasons.
Vote: 88/100