Whisky Review: Wemyss Cragganmore 1999/2014 Heather Moorland

Independently bottled Cragganmore is something of a rare beast. Not as rare as, say, IB Oban, but rare considering that the distillery produces at least 1.6 million liters of spirit every year. One way or another Wemyss managed to get their hands on this particular cask. Given that I recently commented to MAO that the OB 12 Year Cragganmore made me want to try it from an IB, this is good timing.

This whisky was distillery in 1999, filled into a hogshead, then bottled in 2014 at 46% without coloring or chill filtration.

Wemyss Cragganmore 1999/2014 Heather Moorland

Nose: lots of fresh malt, very floral (lavender), grass/herbs/peat without any smoke, salty, berries (raspberry), creamy vanilla. After adding a few drops of water it becomes softer and sweeter with caramel coming out, but the original notes all remain.

Taste: semi-sweet malt with berries in the background up front, becomes drier from the middle back, another flash of berries and some citrus going into the finish, very little oak. After dilution it becomes sweeter throughout and a pleasant citric sourness (lemon) begins around the middle.

Finish: very floral (dried lavender), dry malt, citrus, a little mint, savory oak but not particularly tannic

This is a bit of an odd beast. Initially it came off as extremely youthful, without enough cask impact to smooth off any of the spirit's rough edges. Dilution handily tamed those faults and gives a much more pleasant and rounded experience. My second tasting had a much more rounded character to start with notes that I associate with Islay and other peated malts, but without any overt peat or smoke. Overall quite interesting, though I feel like the big floral notes in the finish might be off-putting for some. While I ultimately enjoyed this whisky quite a bit, I would only buy it at a fraction of its current price.

Whisky Review: Cragganmore 12 Year

Cragganmore is one of Diageo's core Speyside malt distilleries. It forms the basis for a number of their critical blends, especially Green Label, but is also bottled as a single malt for their Classic Malts series.

The distillery is distinguished by a few characteristics: their malt is lightly peated (I've seen 3 PPM, but that is barely over the natural phenol content, so I would guess more like 5-8 PPM), their spirit stills are 'T-shaped', with a truncated top instead of the usual gentle swan neck curve, and the spirit is condensed in worm tubs rather than the now-standard shell condensers.

The 12 Year is bottled at 40% with coloring and chill filtration.

Cragganmore 12 Year

Nose: very malty, savory caramel, moderate dry oak, fizzy bourbon cask fruit/berry esters, a hint of citrus peel, grassy/floral, vanilla, a touch of peat. After adding a few drops of water the malt becomes bigger and musky, and some honey graham cracker notes come out.

Taste: malty sweetness up front, bourbon cask fruit esters, vanilla, bubblegum, floral and grassy notes ride above the middle, fade out through savory notes, bittersweet oak/tea, and dry malt/grass with just a touch of peat. After dilution the bittersweet oak becomes much stronger and spreads across the palate, giving it a drier character.

Finish: wintergreen Tums, lavender, malt, a touch of oak, barely detectable peat

I tried this once before at a bar and recorded very similar notes. This is one of those whiskies that feels like it could be so much more, but as so frequently happens Diageo has neutered it in an effort to broaden its appeal. While it's arguably got a bit more going on than the standard Glens, the equally priced and equally available Clynelish 14 Year trumps it in every category. I was glad to only have a 200 mL bottle of this whisky, which is exactly what I expected despite the higher unit cost. What this does do is convince me that I want to try some indie Cragganmore.