Cragganmore 12 Year Old 1997 Milano Festival

James MacArthur bottled a few whiskies for the Whisky Festival Milano 2009. This Cragganmore 1997 is one of them. Cask 1509 yielded 150 bottles for the festival, so I presume it was only part of the cask. Anyway, this 12 Year Old Cragganmore has a nice healthy golden color.

The nose is surprisingly sour with quite a few citrus aromas: oranges, lime and pink grapefruit. But a little too much pepper to be truly enjoyable. Quite a lot of flowers too (both the dried as the fresh variety), but also a touch meaty and cheesy. Smells like a wilted bouquet.

It’s lightly creamy on the palate and pretty spicy. Think ginger and white pepper. They overpower the fruit at first. The citrus only kicks in midpalate.

The finish is medium in length and more of the same.

A nice malt that suffers a bit from the nose.

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