Single Malt Rare Malts Selection Natural Cask Strength 22YO
⏳ Drinking Window
As a fully matured, historic single malt, this bottle is ready to enjoy immediately and will remain stable indefinitely if kept sealed and stored out of direct sunlight.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
blue cheese, dark chocolate, roasted game birds
✨ Technical Specifications
The Rare Malts Selection, launched by United Distillers (now Diageo) in the mid-1990s, remains one of the most legendary and highly collectible series in the history of Scotch whisky. This historic range was designed to showcase cask-strength, un-chillfiltered single malts from both active and lost distilleries. Among these treasures is the Craigellachie 22 Year Old, distilled in 1973. Craigellachie has long been known as the bad boy of Speyside, stubbornly clinging to its traditional copper worm tubs for condensation. This old-school technique limits copper contact, leaving a heavy, sulfurous, and muscular spirit. Over twenty-two years of quiet maturation, this defiant, meaty character transformed into a spectacular symphony of waxy honey, tropical fruits, flinty mineral smoke, and rich oiliness, capturing a bygone era of Speyside distilling.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1891 by whisky pioneers Peter Mackie and Alexander Edward, Craigellachie Distillery commands a prominent position on a rocky outcrop overlooking the confluence of the Rivers Spey and Fiddich. Designed by renowned Victorian architect Charles Doig, the distillery purposely eschews contemporary distillation trends, championing an archaic, full-bodied spirit style. Drawing soft processing water from the nearby Blue Hill, the distillery employs oil-fired maltings, traditional wooden washbacks, and distinctive exterior copper worm tub condensers. By restricting copper-to-vapor contact during condensation, Craigellachie captures robust, heavy, and sulphurous aromatic compounds that evolve into a uniquely muscular single malt marked by savoury, meaty notes accented by luscious tropical pineapple. Under parent owner Bacardi (John Dewar & Sons) and multi-award-winning Malt Master Stephanie Macleod, the distillery balances its legacy role in premium blends with benchmark age-stated single malts—notably its core 13-Year-Old, 17-Year-Old, and rare vintage cask bottlings—all presented non-chill-filtered at natural strength.
🍷 ABV
58.5%