Cragganmore 12 Year Old 20cl

This is a good dram. Very good indeed. If you ever had a Johnnie Walker, you will "get" this scotch right away.

On the nose it's a mix of wet straw, chestnut and honey. Lots of honey. And a metallic and slightly chlorinated smoke. Mysterious and inviting. Couldn't get my nose out of my glass for the first 10-12 minutes.

on the palate, the full bodied whisky gives out an initial hit of wallnut that gives way to clover honey: golden and sweet. One of the best introduction of any malt I ever tasted.

The development is exactly the same as Johnnie walker black and green: we get the malt and the metallic edge shows up briefly. Then some white flowery notes that brings clover to mind, once again.Not bad.

The final starts with heather honey, with a bunches of herbs and a touch of cherry stones, you know, the black slighly sours ones. Finally, you find some soft dryness and nutmeg spices with just a note of violet. Impeccable, which is french for without sins or faults.

And I think that this is it: this is a dram without any major flaw. If I was in Diageo's place, I would do exaclty the same and definitely build my top blend on top of that one as well. Indeed, you get a nice floral notes and a sweet honey touch with a slight metallic tatse that just marries itself so well with highland and Islay or coastal malts as well as with old and young grain whiskies. A linchpin malt if I ever tasted one.

I will buy this one again. And again. But I would love to see an unchillfilted edition bottled at 46%, which would probably send this one in the 90s.

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