Craigellachie – the whisky and the distillery

Craigellachie is – or perhaps was – one of Speyside’s great little secrets. A wonderful distillery that sits unabashedly beside the main road running through the Craigellachie village, its whiskies have been well known and admired by whisky connoisseurs for many years. However, it seems it’s time for Craigellachie’s malt to be appreciated by a bigger and wider fan club.

Craigellachie is making a bit of noise right now with the global release of its 51yo – a whisky that will be far more accessible than you might at first think, but more about that in a moment. In the meantime, let’s set the scene… Continue reading “Craigellachie – the whisky and the distillery”

Mortlach distillery – the Beast beckons…

It was a long time ago now, but back in 1988, UDV (now Diageo) made the momentous and ground-breaking decision to launch the Classic Malts range. The launch of those six whiskies drew newfound attention to the world of single malts and helped propel the whisky boom we now find ourselves in.  Mortlach distillery was not one the original Classic Malts…

I often wonder about how the marketing team at the time set about choosing which distilleries would be featured in the Classic Malts range? Looking at the portfolio available to them, Glenkinchie for the Lowlands obviously chose itself, as did Talisker for the Islands.  But what about Speyside?  We know now that Cragganmore got the gig, which subsequently thrust that relatively small distillery into the limelight.  But how different might the whisky world be today, and the fortunes of one or two distilleries if they’d selected, for example, Dailuaine, Knockando, Mannochmore, or Glen Elgin?   Or Mortlach?

Continue reading “Mortlach distillery – the Beast beckons…”