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Craigellachie 13 Year Bas-Armagnac

Craigellachie 13 Year Bas-Armagnac

While Craigellachie exists in the Speyside region of Scotland, the distillery has long been proud of forging its own style that doesn’t always match up with its neighbors, whether that means using heritage equipment from a bygone era or adding a new twist to the production process. A new entrant into distillery’s core line of offerings, the Craigellachie Bas-Armagnac takes the distillery’s core 13 year single malt and finishes it for over a year in casks from Gascony that once held Bas-Armagnac. Translated as Lower Armagnac, it is a region in southwestern France along the border with Spain. Grapes grown in this region are blended into a specific style of brandy that uses column stills in the distillation rather than the pot stills often used in cognac production. The Bas-Armagnac region accounts for about 60% of all Armagnac production.

Eifel Single Malt

Eifel Single Malt

Eifel distillery is made by husband and wife Stephan and Carolin. Stephan handles the mashing and distilling and Carolin handles the labeling and bottling, hand labeling each bottle. Their whisky is first distilled in a column still and then the second distillation is done in a copper pot still. Their total output is so low, their whiskey is only typically found in the Eifel region of Germany. Thankfully they have an agreement with Anthem Imports, which brings their offerings to the US market in limited releases. The Eifel Single Malt German Whisky was distilled in 2012 and 2013, aged for 4 years in ex-Bordeaux American casks before aging for 4 more years in ex-cream sherry casks. Only 300 cases were made.

Caol Ila 15 Year Unpeated

Caol Ila 15 Year Unpeated

Caol Ila is the largest distillery on the island of Islay, producing over 2 million liters every year. The vast majority of that goes into Diageo-owned blends like Johnnie Walker Black Label, but there still remains some for eventual release as single malts. While the 12 Year is their single malt cornerstone, the distillery has been releasing a yearly series of unpeated whiskies over the past several years, including the 17 Year. The Caol Ila 15 Year is the first of a reported thirteen releases in the series.