Midweek bank holiday nicely breaks up the week but, in a way, brings another Monday into the week. In the aftermath of the Finnish Independence Day, it's better to stay safely on Scottish soil and rely on well-established classics. And since we've ended up in Speyside, let's see if we can endure another day there.
From Glenfarclas, we head northeast. The distance is about ten kilometers, and we find ourselves at the Craigellachie Distillery.
The co-founder of the distillery, Peter Mackie, already owned Lagavulin Distillery, but its production couldn't keep up with the rapidly growing sales of White Horse whisky. For this reason, he, along with Alexander Edward, established the Craigellachie Distillery in 1891. The distillery is now owned by Bacardi, while the White Horse brand is owned by Diageo. Craigellachie whisky is still used today as a component of White Horse whisky, although the majority goes into Dewar's White Label and Willam Lawson's whiskies. Both are among the world's top 15 best-selling blends. Craigellachie's production capacity is 4,100,000 liters per year, placing it among the 50 largest distilleries in Scotland.
In the glass today is a 13-year-old whisky, one of the distillery's core products. Other core products include 17, 23, and 33-year-old whiskies. All core range whiskies are made without artificial coloring or chill filtration and are bottled at 46% abv. Craigellachie 13-year-old is created by first blending bourbon and sherry cask-matured whiskies. Of the resulting 'blend,' 50% is finished in first-fill sherry casks, and the rest in first-fill bourbon casks.
According to the distillery's website, this is a a robust, muscular whisky with hoards of exotic fruits - a malt that defies the typical Speyside characteristic.
