DISTILLERY Cragganmore

AGE Twelve Year Old

ALCOHOL 40%

REGION Speyside

COLOR Light gold

NOSE Faint smell of honey

PALATE Quite crisp, hint of vanilla, bit of smoke and spicyness to it

FINISH A light finish that doesn’t linger for long given the subtlety of the taste

SCORE

83 out of 100

NOTES This one surprised me a little.  The only other time I had Cragganmore was about three years ago and I remember finding the taste alright but a tad unremarkable.  I quite enjoyed revisiting it this time around as I think I have a better grasp of its more delicate notes.  The 12 year old has quite an unusual blend of flavours and sensations – it’s subtle, sometimes sweet, sometimes smokey.  The late whisky critic Michael Jackson described its aroma as ‘the most complex of any single malt.’  It’s one of the most widely available and well regarded of the Speyside whiskys and rightly so.