Saturday, July 30, 2016
Whisky Review: Cragganmore 12 years Single Malt Scotch
Category
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Region
Speyside, Scotland
ABV
40%
Price
$73 and less
Availability
Wide Distribution
Closure
Cork stopper
Age Statement
12 years
Nose (undiluted)
Beautiful sherry notes waft up in heavenly fashion, oranges, dandelion.
Palate (undiluted)
Golden barley, marzipan, dark honey smeared on dark toast, almonds, hazelnuts, rose petals, and great complexity of all these flavors.
Finish (undiluted)
Medium length of flavors remaining upon the palate include creamy caramel, hint of lemon pith and grapefruit, wisps of very fine Cuban cigar smoke: H. Upmann, and finally salty sea spray.
General Impressions
This is a gateway drug for whisky novices. Cragganmore will reveal to you the majesty of single malts if you as a novice have ever wondered what all the fuss was about.
Cragganmore is a stunning exercise in complexity of subtle flavors of honey, barley, lemon and sea spray.
Widely available and generally reasonably priced, what can I say?
Highly recommended!
Cheers!
Jason Debly
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Re-review....? Glad you did mate. Hope to see more...especially on video. It bought good a memory of that night my mate and I tasted...
ReplyDeletePossibly 2 years ago.....Should write these things down somewhere.... At only $65 down here.... It's worth a re-visit me thinks
PS: Still cold and wet here so the Ardbeg is beckoning ...ha ha!
thanks again,
AL(from OZ)
Cragganmore is an old favorite that I just revisited lately and still like as much as ever. Another two that I am going to revisit are Highland Park 12 and Oban 14yrs.
DeleteArdbeg sounds like the right digestive for the rain.
Nice to hear from you!
Good review. I agree with your take. C-more is used to help make JW Black, which may explain why Diageo does not market it directly. This is a good whisky and is still a good buy - $55 US.
ReplyDeleteGreat review as always!
ReplyDeleteTry the 25 year Old as well!!!!!!!1
ReplyDeleteCraggamore 12 is now 80 bucks a bottle at the government stores in BC. I'm not sure if you're seeing the same trend in NB, but over here the price of single malts has gone bananas in past year or two. I'm going to have to start reserving the good stuff for special occasions...
ReplyDeleteThe prices are soaring where I live too. And so, I find myself buying more Canadian whisky and bourbon that is about a third of the price.
DeleteAbsolutely. I can have a bottle of Dark Horse and a bottle of Jim Beam Black for the price of most lower-tier single malts. Many aged rums are also a tremendous value, if one enjoys the various styles.
DeleteI agree with the comment on rum. Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum is very nice and so is for a cheaper alternative Mount Gay Extra Old. The latter is surprisingly dry.
DeleteThe Mt. Gay Extra Old is definitely a classic. I also would recommend Flor de Cana 7, Cruzan Single Barrel, and English Harbour 5 year as very reasonably priced sipping rums. Also, Appleton 12 year is an absolute steal, if you enjoy Jamaican rums. But like Islay whisky or Northwest IPAs, Jamaican rum is very much an aquired taste.
DeleteDear Jason,
ReplyDeleteThe writer and journalist Nelson Rodrigues said: “all consensus is fool”. May be, but of course we have exceptions. There are wonderfull standard singles (I don’t know if standard, basic or other word), a exemple is Edradour 10 Ys (in my amateur vision), none like Cragganmore.
Sincerely,
Sócrates