A walk to Craigellachie
TL; DR: After Kininvie and a very nice walk, it was time for Craigellachie distillery, the ‘queen of worm tubs’! We’d been waiting over 4 years to visit it, we finally made it and it didn’t disappoint. A great tour with very knowledgeable staff, for a very reasonable price (other producers, take note!)
(missed Part 1?)
As the tour at Kininvie came to an end, it was time to move to our next destination for the day. It was a gorgeous day, probably one of the best (if not the best) we had in all our visits in Speyside (so much better than the dreaded August ’21, when it was so wet that we couldn’t ignite the self-igniting charcoal to grill). The weather so was nice and warm that we both ended up in short sleeves – perfect for our walk back to Craigellachie along the Old Speyside Railway. We knew the path, it’s where we ran the Dramathon Half Dram (half-marathon) in 2022 (and 2021), and where we’ll hopefully run the Wee Dram (10k) later this year. The walk turned out to be over 6 km, on a peaceful path surrounded by vegetation and buzzing insects…a very refreshing and enjoyable moment, in particular considering the poor spring we had this year (and still having at the time of writing).
We arrived at Craigellachie distillery only a few minutes early, just the time to take a few photos in front of the distillery. In the past two years Teresa visited a couple of distilleries that Gianluigi hasn’t (Liberties in Dublin and Copper Rivet in England), while Gianluigi only visited one that Teresa hasn’t (Glenora in Canada), so we both celebrated our personal 100th distillery in separate occasions (Aberargie for Teresa, Kininvie for Gianluigi). Craigellachie though, was our 100th distillery visit together, yay! Next target: 100th Scottish distillery, which will hopefully happen in 2025…maybe?
The distillery is unmissable, as it is right on the road from Craigellachie to Dufftown. They don’t have a visitor centre, something we learned back in 2019 when we visited a sister distillery, Aberfeldy. They are both owned by Dewar’s/Bacardi, together with Royal Brackla, Aultmore, and Macduff (whisky marketed as Deveron/Glen Deveron). The distillery was built in 1891, during the pre-Pattinson crash whisky boom, and expanded in 1964, while malting stopped in 1968.
Back to today, the tour was given by Stephen, the distillery manager, together with Matthew (brand ambassador) and Gary (cask supply specialist, and “grainman”), a fun dynamic trio. In the mill room (hosting a classic Porteus installed in 1964), they told us they mostly use Lauriet barley, never peated, with the usual grist split (10% flour, 70% grit and 20% husk). The mashtun is more recent, as it was replaced in 2001. They work 24/7, and they do 20 mashes per week, each one lasting 6h, aiming for a clear wort. They only close for 3 weeks in the summer to clean-up everything. The washbacks are made of Siberian larch, installed in the 60s, and they use Laland as yeast strain (not to be confused with La-la-land), with fermentation lasting about 60h. They used to have direct fire stills, but they were replaced in the 60s with steam coil ones, as many other distilleries.
After the stillroom, they showed us one of their most iconic feature: the worm tub condensers! This is an old way of condensing the spirit, as simple as “a worm in a tub”, as they jokingly pointed out. Compared to the more “modern” tube and shells (well, still over 100-year old), the reduced contact between the copper and the spirit should result in a heavier spirit, loved by many. Craigellachie is one of the best examples of this feature, together with Mortlach, but there are many other distilleries we visited that have worm tubs: Speyburn, Oban, Edradour, Cragganmore, Springbank (which uses a mix, except for Longrow, which is 100% worm tub condenser) and even some newer distilleries, notably Ardnahoe on Islay and Ballindalloch in Speyside. It’s a very fascinating topic, and if you want to know more there is a recent Aquavitae vPub focusing on this.
After the production, it was time for the tasting, which was held in a shed, previously a space for in-house cooperage. The line-up was quite comprehensive, considering we only paid 20 quid (!!!) for the whole thing. We started with the distillery flagship, the Craigellachie 13 (46% abv), matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks: having tried it years ago, we’d forgotten how good it is! We then tried a more recent bottling, again 13 years old (46%), but finished in Bas-Armagnac casks, less sherry influence, brighter and super fruity. Then, a treat, the 19yr (again 46%), very well balanced and delicious, matured in ex-bourbon casks, and finished in 1st fill both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Finally, they also let us try their Spirit of Speyside 2024 exclusive: cask strength (54.9%), vintage 2005 (so 18-19yr), finished for over 3 years in red wine casks. The jump in ABV was there, but also in flavour compared to the other (still very tasty) drams.
As the tasting ended, we went to the office/pop-up shop to pick up a “souvenir”, and we slowly walked back towards the van, not before stopping at the Craigellachie Hotel. Unfortunately, the whisky bar was busy with a tasting, so we just had a half-pint at the bar downstairs, before finally heading to the van where we had dinner and spent the night.
What a day, Kininvie first (making 4/6 of the Dufftown distilleries for us… Glendullan and Dufftown, some day we will come!), and then this great tour at the ‘queen of worm tubs’ distillery! Also, kudos to Dewar’s: not only the team that took us around was super knowledgeable and very nice, they also gave us a very nice tasting for a very reasonable price, unlike some other producers.
Stay tuned for the rest of our Spirit of Speyside trip, still 3 days (and 3 distilleries) to go! Until then, slainte!
Craigellachie Distillery Tour
Price: £20.00 pp (Spirit of Speyside 2024)
Duration: 1hr (a bit more actually)
Tasting: 4 drams, Craigellachie 13y (46%), 13y Bas-Armagnac finish (46%), 19y (46%) and Spirit of Speyside 2024 Edition (54.9%)
Target: whisky curious and nerds
Value for money: extremely good!
Highlights: the worm tubs, of course!
Recommended: yes
Link: https://www.dewars.com/
Dramming around 