The First of The Last Great Malts: Craigellachie Single Malt Scotch Whisky

The relationship between beauty and functionality is one I struggle with. I'm Scandinavian and subscribe to the ideal that, as far as you can make it, everything should be "both beautiful and functional".

There are plenty of excellent examples of this, from coffee makers through to oyster shucking kits, but every so often in life there is an example of extreme functionality without beauty, and the embodiment of this has to be a certain Mr Dean Windass.

A builder by trade, Dean Windass is what we humble chaps in the pub would call 'an ugly f*cker'. Dean signed as a professional footballer for Hull City (a place itself of questionable beauty...) before moving to Aberdeen where he became somewhat of a legend.

Moving back south to English football, Windass signed in 1998 for Oxford United at a sum that is still counted a club record fee for the University city team, and when he arrived in the City of Dreaming Spires he came with a warning- for Deano, as he was known, had been much loved by the supporters of the football clubs he had played for previously. But a genius on the pitch, he was also dogged by a fierce temper and Oxford United fans received warning of this via our weekly football fanzine (kids- this was like a blog but in paper form, before the Internet existed).

The story goes that Dean, the man with the face of a boxer but the feet of an angel, had once been sent off THREE TIMES in one game, whilst playing for Aberdeen: firstly for some on the pitch footballing offence; secondly for verbally abusing the ref who sent him off and thirdly (and brilliantly in my eyes) for "using the corner flag as a weapon".

Wow. Just wow.

In what would be considered a long career on the pitch, Windass’ final act was a simply amazing goal, which you can watch here, while back at his home town club of Hull City in a match which is still the biggest financial prize in sport- scoring the winning goal to take Hull into the Premier League. At Wembley. It must be noted that Dean Windass was nearly 40 when he performed this piece of utter magic.

As you can see from the footage (if you've bothered to watch it) Dean Windass has cropped bleach/blond hair, looking like a washed up D.J. in a local nightclub, trying to relive his days as a headline act in Ibiza.

But whatever his look, his ability shined through.

Speyside (local club: Aberdeen) is a forest of beauty and functionality. Distilleries such as Aberlour, The Balvenie, and Benromach stand as stunning examples of architecture, churning out some of the best single malt on the market. Top this off with The Macallan, which is about to go under the surgeon’s knife with a £120m new distillery, this should make their site as beautiful as the liquid in its bottles.

But there are some distilleries where function takes over from form. We recently visited a 'new to market' distillery, which has been churning out malt whisky for a long time, but due to its long history is now somewhat of an ugly child of mid-1960’s architecture, but with a result that would grace the grass at Wembley stadium.

Craigallachie Distillery sits in a wonderful location, just down the hill from Dufftown before the banks of the Spey river rise to meet the Macallan, Knockando and Cardhu distilleries. The spawn of mid-century architecture, aside from a quite stunning walk along the top of their worm tub cooling vessels, is a functional production facility, part of the team of distilleries producing whisky for the Dewar’s blend.

The team behind the malt distilleries (owned by Barcadi) have decided to have a go at replicating the umbrella group of malts that Diageo successfully launched under their 'Classic Malts' banner in the 1990s.

Using the term ‘The Last Great Malts’ it covers Craigellachie, GlenDevron (the distillery known as MacDuff), Aberfeldy, Royal Bracklar and Aultmore - all well regarded juice  in their own right.

The Last Great Malts; an odd name. It comes across as something of a final sigh from a collection of excellent distilleries, not a new collection of vibrant malts. It seems almost like an acknowledgement that there is a wave of newer distilleries to take their place, steal their crown and melt it down into cooler jewellery for a new generation- like the Rolling Stones doing a 'last great tour' before giving way to Jack White or the Arctic Monkeys. But instead of £450 a ticket, it is £330.00 for a 23 year old whisky...

But enough about the marketing, let’s look at the distillery itself. A wonderful still room, housing four large pot stills, despite its utilitarian feel has one very unusual aspect: a large window which can be opened to let in the natural Speyside air. If you’ve been to Caol Ila, you would feel very much at home in this still room, save for the view which isn’t of the mist covered Paps of Jura but of the A941.

In terms of production, Craigellachie is one of the few distilleries left in Scotland to use Worm Tubs as their method of condensing, something to applaud. And it makes for a wonderful spirit (show me a distillery using worm tubs, that doesn’t...).

Their new range encompasses Craigellachie bottled at 13, 17, (a sneaky 19 year old for Duty Free) and 23 years old the maths geeks among you will notice that these are all prime numbers. Aside from that one fact, all these releases are quite excellent, with the real stand out being the 23 year old.

Craigellachie - 23 Year Old – Single Malt Scotch Whisky – 46% abv –  £330.00 here

Nose: A real depth of complexity with large dose of oak spiciness, some candied orange zest and just a hint of blood orange. There are red apples and pear drops too. Very inviting. Not over oaked but a wonderful balance of spice and meaty, oily tones.

Taste: Blood orange develops on the palate with an addition of toasted marshmallows and a hint of lime pickle. Big and unctuous, this has the age to give it good body, but still maintain as vibrant and energetic flavour profile.

Finish: Long and oaky, but without being too dry, this has a great balance of wood in it.

Overall: An excellent dram which has seemingly lasted well in cask given the meaty nature of the spirit. It’s a shame it can’t all be at this age, but with a lower price point...!

All round, this is a great start to The Last Great Malts which, I think, should be given a far more positive name if they are all this good...

Yes Or No? Glenlivet Single Cask Scotch Whisky 1974

It is hard in a job writing about spirits, to not write regularly about Scotch. And, living in England and visiting Scotland on a regular basis, it is difficult to ignore the bagpipe-like noise of nationalism currently floating through the air, this time not coming from a kilt-wearing man standing on the corner of Princess Street in Edinburgh, but from the trunk of the rather large ‘elephant in the room’ that is the upcoming Scottish independence vote.

As I live in England, I don’t get an official say as to the outcome of the situation, as I don’t have a vote. But I have been watching with interest (as someone who holds a Norwegian passport, born in Oxford to an English father and Norwegian mother, I often feel Scotland is geographically my natural home) as the debate has unfolded. And something odd has happened...

For as far as I can make out, the ‘Yes’ vote is arguing that Scotland is a rich country, full of great natural resources and untapped potential. It is a ‘sleeping Norway’, if you will which can stand on its own two feet and create a utopia of a country with a huge oil fund. The ‘No’ vote seems to have taken the stance that Scotland is a country leaning financially and politically on Westminster; that it takes more money from the Union coffers for free university education and other luxuries, not to mention the skew of an ageing population who draw their state pension from a joint pension pot, that leaving the Union would be a bad idea, as ‘we’ (Westminster), fund ‘you’ (Scotland).

So what is it that is odd about these arguments for those of us living south of the border? Well, if you live in the other areas of the Union, you might be swayed by these headline ‘facts’ into the very strange political stance of supporting one side’s argument in the hope that the vote goes the opposite way.

For example, if you live in England and you believe the line of the ‘No’ party that Scotland costs Westminster money, then you might think “OK then, if we fund your lifestyle, then off you go” and want a Yes vote to win. On the other hand, if you live in England and think “Salmond is right, Scotland is rich in so many ways and makes a huge positive contribution to the UK finances, not to mention the political power having oil in any form brings” then you would want the opposite of what Salmond wants: a 'No' vote to keep the Union together.  

As a result, it is all very odd living outside of Scotland and watching the debate happen, with the divided idea that you may end up supporting the ideals of one side, in the hope the vote goes the opposite way. I’ve never known politics like it, in this regard.

Now, I haven’t done the research into the facts on offer by both sides. I don’t need to, I don’t have the vote. But if I did have the vote I would make the time (I’m too busy working hard to pay off my University fees, but if you got your Uni education for free, you’ve got more time on your hands for this sort of thing...) to really dig into the ideals of each option, as this vote is simply too important to ignore.

So if you do have the vote, whichever way you think you might choose, just make sure you turn up on the day and use it.

Now, on to the reason we write this blog: whisky. And something which reflects the handshakes which happen regularly across the border: a single malt Scotch bottled by a non-Scottish company. In this case, Berry Brothers and Rudd (BBR), in London. Famed for their fantastic selection of whiskies, BBR consistently choose fantastic liquid to mature and bottle, mostly all single cask single malts.

Glenlivet – 1974 Single Cask 8211 – bottled 2013 – Berry Brothers & Rudd x The Whisky Exchange – 55.1% abv

Nose: Hot blueberry pie, plum chutney, blackcurrants and other summer fruits. There is just so much delicious fruit on the initial nose, which is underpinned with old leather, hazelnut and dark chocolate. Some wood spices of cinnamon and nutmeg appear, but not so as to overpower the fruits.

Palate: The mix of oak, fruit and spice is almost perfect. The three dance around the palate with the fruit becoming more vibrant the longer this sits, with blood orange developing as the dominant flavour. Of course there are the key touchstones of great old whisky in there too (some fruit cake, chamois leather, cardamom) but this shows that old whisky does not have to be tired.

Finish: More blood orange, strawberry licorice laces and a hint of vanilla, too.

Overall: At last year’s whisky show, a little beauty was on the BBR tasting stand. Bottled in conjunction with The Whisky Exchange, the combination of expert palates from BBR’s Doug McIvor and TWE’s Sukhinder Singh means that you simply can’t go wrong and indeed this turned out to be one of my top drams of 2013.

Having bought myself a bottle, which didn’t last very long at all, I returned to The Whisky Exchange shop in London Bridge earlier this year to restock my cabinet and came away with more than one bottle of this... something to eke out over the next few years.

Unlike the current level of political noise, this whisky is simple: a harmony of flavours from Scottish new make, foreign oak casks, bottled by two London-based establishments, which leaves me clear on my Yes/No decision: Yes, you can have a dram. No, you can’t keep the rest of the bottle.