Cragganmore 12 year old

I'm a noob to the scotch thing. I bought this based on reviews here and knowing that I enjoyed Macallen 12. I can't put words to the distinct flavors in this scotch, but the other reviews are accurate in their description of a very complex nose and flavor. I taste honey, spices, florals, etc, and I love it! $57 in Baton Rouge, LA.

I can't say enough good things about Cragganmore. This, to me, is an often overlooked but high quality Speyside. The Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and The Macallan get all the Speyside press but Cragganmore is a great everyday drinking scotch. The flavor is great, it goes down smooth as honey, it's easy enough to find in most places...what else do I need to say. If you're looking to trade up on the Glenlivet 12 or the Glenfiddich Special or if you just looking for a good all around single malt, pick up a bottle. You won't be sorry. And if you are, invite me over and I'll finish it for ya!

Ah, good old Craggy.

I won't go into a long description of the details, as TimmyB has done that for us (I get a chuckle when, at the end of a partiuclarly long paragraph, he says "words fail". ) I've been 'into' single malts for a decade now, and Craggy has been with me from the start and always since.

On Saturday I hike to the top of a mountain, I play a game of full-court basketball, I go to a playoff game and chear my lungs out for the home team. Maybe I go with some friends and their kids to the carnival when it's in town, eat cotton candy and ride the rollercoaster, and then off to the seaside for a brisk walk along the ocean cliffs in a bit of a storm.

On Sunday, I go to Church, I have brunch with some dear old friends, and maybe a round of golf or touch football. I read some more of that great novel I am working my way through, and then take my girlfriend out to a nice dinner and then the Symphony.

Cragganmore is a Sunday scotch ... refined, complex, and unobtrusive. It is not Talisker or Lagavulin, let alone Laphroaig. Craggy is the one quiet friend you have (unlike all the other loud ones who drown him out) but you have found that listening to him is more than worthwhile.

...

The question of 'price' and 'value' are interconnected, and (living in a state monopoly on booze with high taxes) I have learned that that depends a lot on where you live and what prices are out there. To me, there are 3 tiers of single malt prices ... regular prices for the standard offerings (into which this scotch falls); premium pricing (going 2-3 times the regular) for special/old/boutique scotches; and the OMFG price range for movie stars, despots, and moguls. You'll probably find this one in the mid-range of standard pricing, which would be good value. (The $35-40 that TimmyB mentions is but a pipedream where I live ... )

Packaging ... who cares? The scotch doesn't leak out, so it works. Well, for that much money, I'd like to be able to display the bottle if I wanted. It looks nice enough, but nothing special.

Cragganmore 12, the Speyside member of Diageo's Classic Malt series, is readily available, famously aromatic and quite tasty; an excellent dram. Michael Jackson credit's the nose as "the most complex of any malt."A world renowned complexity and very reasonable price tag. Very gentle, both sweet and dry, malty and smoky, a beautiful study in contradictions.

Color: Honey

Nose: At a quick whiff, the nose is very sweet, but upon further inspection it dries down almost immediately. Sherry and indistinct herbal notes are readily available along with cut wild grasses. Sherry persists alongside the herbs, along with sweet rolling malty notes. Dries down even more, but not from the oak. To truly appreciate this nose, you will need to spend several minutes. Thyme, tarragon, sweet, mild Indian spices slowly emerge amidst basic floral aromas. Wheat fields and rolling hills develop in your minds eyes and a pond surrounded by wild flowers, grasses and herbs. Pink peppercorns, white ash and aspen wood chips, lemongrass, faint sweet pine all bask in the distance. I think with more time, even more complexity could emerge. Mr. Jackson was right, this is incredibly complex. But this nose takes some time to develop at the onset it's basic consisting of primarily of sherry, sweet malt, and herbs, but give it time and good wide snifter to really open up, it's worth it. A few drops of water, open this nose very much as well. The malt is strenghtened and the aromas intensified, There is so much going on, words fail.

Palate: Opens very sweet, small batch clover honey, drying down, lemongrass, tangerine, lots of herbage, a touch of salt, faintest whiff of smoke. The smell of uncut thyme, slowly warming. Once the warmth begins, it dries very quickly becoming nearly stoney with herbal notes remaining. Fades into dry stoney, woody notes.

Finish: Delicate and Dry, long, very gentle warm, touches of salt and earth. Crisp and clean, incredibly dignified and refined. Leaving you longing for another sip.

In general, I'm not a fan of sherried malts or Speysiders, but this is one of my primary exceptions. Cragganmore is a top notch malt, runs $35-45 dollars. This aromas is astoundingly complex, but I have dealt with others that I find more enjoyable. I would love to see more smoke and sweetness with this malt for contrast with all dried herbs. Works well as an aperitif or a digestif. Definately take some time to examine the nose, it pays off. It love to seem them make an 18 or 25 year old expression.

Overall Score: 90

Here's a link to the discussion thread.