When Bacardi announced their ‘The Last Great Malts’ series, it was a bit surprising to see that:

1. Bacardi Released a travel retail exclusive expression as part of the line up for both Craigellachie and Aultmore lines (and will probably release one for Royal Brackla and Deveron as well)
2. Bacardi buckle the trend and instead of releasing pricey Travel Retail NAS as the trend is in the last few years, they actually stick to age statements and release a matured one instead of a young one.

For the Craigellachie line up it’s a 19 Year Old which comes in 1 Liter bottle (Travel Retail after all) and as far as I know it’s 119 Euro in Europe. Lets see what those lucky flyers can get.

Craigellachie 19 (46%, €119 at Schipol Airport, 1 Liter bottle)

Nose: This one continue the trend of fruity nose but it’s not as expressive as the 17 and there’s no tropical edge here. It’s creamy, nutty and less sweet with added sour notes of unripe green grapes and granny smith apples. With additional time in glass it becomes sulphury and fruitier.

Palate: Big time sulphur, burnt rubber, struck match bitterness, spices, granny smith apples, nutmeg and lots of maltiness

Finish: Smoldering feeling on tongue, oak, fizzy fruits sweetness and then lingering smoldering and fizzy brimestone feeling deep in throat.

Thoughts: Definitely not what I expected after tasting the 13yo and 17yo. This one is bold and daring. But overall impression? It’s different and nice dram but it’s not for me. It’s less fruity and more sulphury so I still favor the 17yo on it. The official notes call this feisty and I tend to agree with this statement so if you like that kind of whisky, go fly somewhere and buy it.

(Official sample provided by Bacardi)