Cragganmore 20 Year Old Whisky Review!

The cask strength 20-year old Cragganmore from owner Diageo's 2020 Special Releases, and it's a relative bargain - if you can still find it!

I absolutely loved the cask strength peated Cragganmore 12-year old from the previous year's releases (reviewed here). In my opinion it was the hidden gem of the 2019 Special Releases, and despite being the first peated Cragganmore officially released it was very reasonably priced, offering brilliant value for money. As far as I can remember that was the first peated Speyside single malt that Diageo have released in modern times, made all the more special by the distillery's worm tub condensers and the fact that it was bottled at cask strength. I'm sure we'll see more peated releases from the distillery in future, but for the 2020 Special Releases they reverted back to the unpeated whisky that the distillery is known for, and there's no Cragganmore in the 2021 batch of releases that recently launched in Britain and will likely arrive here in mid-2022. Stocks of the 2020 releases are dwindling rapidly, but at the time of writing can still be found in Australia, mostly at the larger branches of our largest liquor retailer. Pricing on this Cragganmore is/was around $220 AUD, which is very reasonable for a cask strength 20-year old limited release in this day & age. I suppose we can thank the lesser-known distillery name for that, since it doesn't have the popularity and "sexy-ness" of the other names in the Diageo stables - for example, the 21-year old Mortlach from the same year's special releases is at the opposite end of the spectrum, selling for five-times that amount at around $1,100 AUD. 

There was some confusion surrounding the casks that were used in this release, as there has been with a few other examples of Diageo's Special Releases over the years - the 15-year old Talisker from 2019 for example (reviewed here), which was reported by quite a few PR agencies, press releases and bloggers to be matured in virgin oak casks. But that didn't sound right to me, and turned out to be entirely incorrect since it was actually matured in freshly charred (a.k.a. re-charred) refill American oak casks. And quite a few on the interweb have done the same with this 20-year old Cragganmore, reporting that it was matured in both refill casks and "new fresh-charred American oak casks", with "new" referring to virgin oak. And again, that didn't sound right to me - just like I couldn't see Diageo filling Talisker into virgin oak casks for fifteen years of maturation, I really can't see Diageo maturing a Cragganmore in virgin oak casks for two decades, even if it was only a component part of the final vatting. A short finishing period or a component part of a much younger release perhaps (2019's 11-year old Cardhu for example), but spending fifteen to twenty years in charred virgin oak, even in a cold & damp dunnage warehouse in Scotland, would be likely to overwhelm the spirit character and distillery character of just about any whisky - and I'm trying to resist the urge to mention bourbon here! Such a practice would defeat the purpose of releasing the whisky in the first place, particularly in the case of Diageo's Special Release program where the idea is to showcase the distilleries in a different way to their core range, if only by bottling them at higher strengths and with more natural presentation. And, just like the aforementioned Talisker 15-year old, it turns out that once again this whisky was not fully- or partly-matured in charred virgin oak casks, but rather in refill casks, some of which were freshly re-charred. Phew, that's a relief.  

Not everyone got it wrong of course, and I certainly don't think I'm the whisky industry's knight in shining armour, but plenty did, and I'm glad they were mistaken! Why? Because we want that Cragganmore spirit character and distillery character to still be present in this whisky, even at the substantial age of 20-years. The distillery's unusual flat-topped spirit stills with their downward-angled lyne arms, intentionally run quicker than usual to reduce copper contact and reflux, and the traditional worm tub condensers that are fitted to all four stills, give Cragganmore a deeper, richer, spicier texture than most of the neighbouring Speyside distilleries. This is not quite a meaty, dirty or sulphurous spirit like that of Mortlach, Craigellachie or Benrinnes, which are also equipped with worm tubs, but the extra depth and richness of the Cragganmore spirit that is intentionally a little rough around the edges - especially when served up at cask strength - has a great character to it, and those edges do generally become more rounded with each year of maturation. In fact if memory serves this is the second-oldest official bottling (i.e. from Diageo) of Cragganmore that we've seen to date, only beaten by the 25-year old Special Release from 2014. So, a 20-year old Cragganmore, unpeated, matured in refill casks and bottled at a cask strength of 55.8% ABV, without added colouring or chill filtration. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow-whisky nerd. Shall we?

Cragganmore 20-year old Cask Strength, 55.8%. Speyside, Scotland.

2020 Diageo Special Releases. Unpeated, matured in refill casks, some of which were re-charred. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Malty, lightly fruity & honeyed, spicy. Dry gristy (dusty) malt, touch of savoury honey-roasted nuts and a hefty pinch of pepper. Orange oil, freshly polished wooden furniture, and unsweetened bubble gum, the old cornflour-dusted pink stuff. Slight floral touches around the edges as well. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, quite oily, spicy. Lightly drying & astringent. Some heat, needs substantial breathing time, but calms down nicely. 

Taste: Big pinch of pepper again, olive oil, more bubble gum and polished/varnished wood. Drying wood spices, and dried red chilli. Dried orange peel and malty biscuits - rich tea biscuits? 

Finish: Medium length. Drying astringency with some pepper and chilli, touch of pencil shavings. Orange oil again. Dry, gristy, biscuity malt and those savoury honey-roasted nuts again to finish. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: It's a spicy little number, both in terms of flavour and also spirit-y heat, even after substantial breathing time. But it certainly has the flavour and texture to carry that heat & spice and the result is very enjoyable. It's also quite a dry & biscuit-y malt, which I do enjoy, especially when it's in a viscous, oily dram like this Cragganmore. It'll probably calm down after even more breathing time, since the owner tells me it was rather hot & closed-off to begin with, but it's definitely showing itself well now. That slight roughness just adds to the character, and it's not distracting or annoying - largely thanks to the texture and flavour that are there in spades. Probably not ideal for a relative newcomer, though, heading towards the challenging whisky territory - no bad thing!

This 20-year old certainly isn't on the level of the 2019 peated 12-year old, but that's hardly a fair comparison. Both have been very reasonably priced for the quality and character that they offer, and this is certainly a worthy purchase if you manage to find one sitting on a shelf before they're all gone. 

Cheers!