Hi all, really just starting to get into whiskey at large. This is my first scotch review, and my second overall after my take on the Kavalan Sherry Oak 46% on r/worldwhisky.

Distillery: Craigellachie

Region: Speyside

Price: ~89£ (Heathrow duty-free)/700ml

Cask Type: Ex-bourbon and ex-sherry

ABV: 46%

Color: 0.8, deep gold

Nose: Honey, syrup, lightly toasted oak (definitely not green, which was my quibble with Kavalan Sherry Oak), coconut. On subsequent nosing several minutes later, pleasantly musty dry cardboard with a very slight sulfuric funk as well as winey, tart, concentrated grape (to be distinguished from Kyoho grapes).

Palate: Moderate body that rapidly builds up into an incredibly creamy and smooth mouthfeel. Kyoho grape (bright, sweet and juicy, not concentrated and tart like that on the nose), marmalade, salted caramel, white bread, moist buttercream, cola syrup.

Finish: Gentle heat, no alcohol burn. Starts off vegetal and bitter with coriander, mint and cucumber. Tomato ketchup. Hint of malt that lingers and lingers in the background, as a rotating cast of freshly-grinded black pepper, lime, honey, petrichor, crushed sugared peanuts, dried cranberries, cinnamon and lighted cigar just hand off to each other cohesively in that order. What a long and complex finish. Definitely the highlight for me.

Conclusion: For me, the star of the Craigellachie 17 is definitely the finish. Incredibly, it surfaces so many notes without seeming disjointed. I can still pick up the honey, lime and cinnamon as I type this. With each new breath taken after a sip, a new note that does not overstay its welcome seems to emerge. This finish does not just last long: evidently, it preserves layered nuances for very long. The cumulative effect whets one for another sip unfailingly - so long as you enjoy, or at least tolerate, the coriander and cucumber that starts the finish off.

Perhaps in part because I did not use a glencairn, the nose is mostly straightforward, with Speyside traits of honey and syrup being front and centre. The slight twist of musty cardboard toward the end will divide opinion, but it evokes reassuring and nostalgic feelings of rummaging through cardboard boxes for me.

The palate has just the right texture for me: creamy and velvety, verging on syrupy. It is, however, not waxy or oily. More importantly, this texture builds up over time. It does not come immediately, making it a rewarding whiskey that texturally develops on the palate, instead of hitting your tongue fully-formed. This is not saying that it starts off thin on the palate. Dalwhinnie 15 feels thin and stays thin. This does not. It starts off with what I consider moderate body and only gets better from there.

I like the interplay between the tart grape on the nose and bouncy, sweet grape on the palate. It provides continuity. I don't seem to get vanilla, as commonly found in Speyside. Instead, I get buttercream with the barest hint of savouriness, but without any cake, like I scooped off the frosting to eat. The lightly toasted oak (balanced with the spirit), twist with the cardboard, texture/body and finish compel me to rank this above Dalwhinnie 15 (which I haven't written a full review for, but would give 83 for the smooth honeyed fruitiness) by some distance.

However, this whiskey does not break 90 for want of a nose and palate that reaches the heights of the finish. Perhaps I need to try this again some time later with a glencairn. Nonetheless, as I drank it, Craigellachie 17 is a delicious Speyside with slight and endearing (at least to me) idiosyncracies with the cardboard and vegetables that set it apart from more well-known Speysides. As Ralfy correctly points out, it is a whiskey that distinctly and delicately balances between cask and spirit, letting neither dominate.

Score: 86. (Edit: 90 on second dram because I now get cola syrup, salted caramel and marmalade on the palate that lift it up to exquisite. Wow.)

Scotch Review #1, Whisky Network Review #2

H.Y.