Review by: The Muskox

I was at a tasting with friends the other night, and after the main event, smoked_herring pulls out a Boston Round and starts pouring something blind. What could it be? Turns out it’s one of this year’s most intriguing Diageo special release. I took many of my notes after the reveal, so I’m not going to write this like a blind review. It took me a couple guesses, but I did eventually ask if this was a peated Speyside (I had peated BenRiach in mind, specifically).

So what’s the deal? Well, apparently there were concerns about water shortages at Talisker roughly 12 years ago, so Diageo decided to run some peated malt through the stills at Cragganmore to have a ready-made ‘replacement’ in case things at Talisker got bad. However, things recovered on Skye, so the barrels of peaty Cragganmore sat in their warehouses until just now, when it was chucked into gorgeous tubes and bottled at cask strength (thank goodness) for this year’s special release.

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Distillery: Cragganmore.

Bottler: Official bottling.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 58.4%. Cask strength.

Age: 12 years. Bottled in 2019.

Cask type: Refill ex-bourbon barrels.

Price: $140 CAD.

Color: Straw. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Sweet and briny peat. Seaweed, bonito flake, even some capers… sea buckthorn! The sweetness is heathered and rich – White chocolate, nougat, banana, pear, vanilla, maybe some rum-raisin ice cream. Some lightly roasted peanuts, almonds, and wheat crackers.

Palate: Lightly oily texture. Soft arrival, with juicy pears, grapefruit, and more nougat. Flowers, mineral water, lemon tarts, and salt in the middle, developing to ashy, heathered peat smoke. It seems smokier than the published 5 ppm figure would suggest. Whoa, this is a new one – it tastes like a fresh book smells, lightly papery and glue-y sweet. Cool! More flowers and light salt on the back end.

Finish: Medium length. Lingering ashy peat smoke, with egg yolk, pear, flowers, and fresh-cut grass.

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Conclusion: Interesting stuff! I’m impressed with the amount of brine that’s in here, and the floral + smoke combo is usually a winner for me. I have to say though, I was expecting to like this more than I did. It’s a nice, fairly young peated whisky, with the play between the briny, ashy smoke and the rich sweetness being the highlight. All in all, a pass for $140 at the LCBO. For this flavour profile, I prefer Benromach Peat Smoke.

Final Score: 82.

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
• 50-59: Save it for mixing.
• 0-49: Blech.