New from Douglas Laing; Craigellachies on Taste; Singleton on Top; Waterford in Administration

Hello everyone

As promised before, the last two Ferg & Harris samples examined this time plus some news snippets.

The Ferg & Harris bottlings are both Craigellachies with the same basic maturation and length of time but differences in finishing and strrength.

Ferg & Harris Craigellachie 15 Year Old with main maturation in an amontillado sherry butt and 1 month finishing in virgin oak. This one is bottled at 64.2%.

Appearance: Rich, deep mahogany, like paperback maple bark with caramelised orange highlights. Tears slow to form and very slow to run with wide spacing.

Nose: Lots of tea-soaked vine fruits; dark sugars; warm fruit cake spices – allspice, clove, mace. Ginger and candied citrus; caramel. With water, more oak and a little sulphur. Baked honey, golden syrup and damp oak. A touch of vanilla.

Palate: Quite mouth-drying. Medium weight- a little viscosity. Warming spices, dark brown soft sugar; ginger and black pepper; zesty with a little vanilla.

Finish: Long; initially dry with warming and hot spices; oak and some rear sweetness. Very mellow.

Ferg & Harris Craigellachie 15 Year Old with main maturation in an amontillado sherry butt and 3 months finishing in a white port barrel. Bottled at 63.1%.

Appearance: Mahogany with amber highlights.Tears form a fine rim at first, slow to form and, again, very slow to run. Widely spaced.

Nose: At first, very different from the first sample. More savoury notes but also more vine fruit. More closed than first sample. Earthy with stewed tea tannins. With water, „flatter“ than 1 at first. Ginger and a little touch of caramel; more vegetal notes. Then Cirtus zest and honey baked orchard fruits; wax-polished warm, wood floor; sulphur comes in and some nuttiness.

Palate: Some viscosity. Very mouth-drying and tannic. Apple and pear skins; some vine fruit sweetess. Ginger and warm spices; slight coffee ground and treacle bitterness.

Finish: Long and very dry on tongue and cheeks; slight burnt sugar bitterness; tea leaves; warm and mellow.

I do like Craigellachie and have fond memories of one brought out some years ago by Craigellachie‘s owner, Dewar‘s (parent company Bacardi) and chosen by Master Blender, Stephanie Macleod. Haven‘t searched back my old notes but I think it was a 19 year old. Both of these Craigellachies are very palatable and delightfully aromatic drams but my preference is for the first one, that had one month finishing in virgin oak. The Ferg & Harris bottlings are limited and not cheap, though both of these are around £130/bottle which isn’t bad for such limited editions of this age. Based on the five samples sent to me, they are worth seeking out for your bar or restaurant if you can get hold of any.

A couple of new offerings flagged up to me this week by Douglas Laing & Co. One is Scallywag Winter Edition 2024 and the latest in its Old Particular Red Wine Cask Collection. Now, Scallywag, alongside Timorous Beastie, is one of my favourites of the Douglas Laing more regular ranges. Haven‘t been able to taste this one but it‘s been finished in orange wine casks from Spain which makes it interesting and different for me. All sounds very Christmassy. It‘s at 53.9% vol with no added colour and no chill filtration and expect to pay around £65 in the UK. No outside UK price was given. The new Old Particular is a Girvan 16-Year-Old Single Grain Scotch Whisky, finished in a single merlot red wine cask from France. Their tasting notes say, „…hard candy, honeyed cereal, and rich dark toffee with smooth ganache.The influence of French oak allows the grain to shine, offering a powerful finish filled with “cinnamon spice and ripe red fruits“. It‘s bottled at 48.4% abv (NCF/NAC) with expected pricing at £85.00 / €101.00.

Heard this week that The Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery won the award from the World Travel Awards last weekend in Madeira for World’s Leading Whisky Distillery tour. As you might expect, it was also voted Scotland‘s Best Whisky Distillery Tour earlier this year from the same source as well as other awards since its re-opening in 2022 after a re-jig of its offering and much investment by parent company, Diageo. I‘m ashamed to say it‘s not one I‘ve been to myself though I did have clients there on my bespoke tours in the past when I still ran that company. Based in Muir of Ord, near Inverness, it‘s one that would fit neatly into a northern Highland tour if you‘re planning such a thing, especially if you base yourself in Inverness or are trying the North Coast 500 driving route. The distillery has welcomed nearly 80,000 visitors in 2024 and offers a range of different tours as well as locally sourced food in its bar and deli space. Not the best time of year to be trying that area now but do think about it for 2025 from spring onwards.

Lastly for this time, I was truly dismayed to read a couple of days ago that Ireland‘s Waterford Distillery, set up by former Bruichladdich CEO, Mark Reynier, has gone into administration with the hope that the receivers can “secure the future of the business”.  I wouldn‘t like to see their approach to whisky-making with different barleys and from individual farms, following the concept of terroir, disappear. According to a report in the Irish Times, „the receivers will either attempt to find a buyer for the business, or sell assets, such as its stocks of whiskey or the distillery itself “. Let‘s hope someone buys the business and takes it even further forward, preserving the jobs of all the team there.

That‘s it for this month and next month we‘ll be on countdown to Christmas and New Year. Till then, happy dramming.

Slainte mhath,

Caroline