The Discount Is in the Family

Craigellachie 23 is the long end of a distillery that keeps stepping up as it ages. Against the younger bottlings there is a clear change here: more spice, ripe fruit both fresh-cooked and dried, and a touch of the peat smoke the distillery once added in a lighter hand. A drop of water brings out maple syrup and a waxy edge, and the whole thing turns complex and deep. The palate is thick and silky, melted white chocolate first, then lilies and baked pineapple, running long and layered to a close that feels elegant rather than heavy.

This week Craigellachie 23 is $780 at Dan Murphy's; it usually sells around $800. That is the figure to hold in your head when you start comparing.

Here is one plain way to place it. Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest Craigellachie 23 what they would pay for it, each of them starting from what they already pay for their own. A Dalmore 21 Malt drinker lands at about $678, around 69% of what their own bottle costs them, marking Craigellachie 23 down for its sherry and dried fruit and for not being from the Highlands. Turned the other way around, a Craigellachie 23 drinker puts the Dalmore at about 73% of their own, marking it down for the same sherry and dried fruit and for the name on the label. Across all those nearby drinkers the answers run from $136 to $697, and at $780 Craigellachie 23 sits above every one of them: priced for its own fans.

So if you want a change of glass without leaving the house style far behind, three bottles stand in.

Craigellachie 19 — $376. Slimmer and crisper than the 23, with an aromatic lift up front, then dried pineapple, sweet chocolate pudding, char, honeysuckle, herbs and white fruits. To a Craigellachie 23 drinker it gives about 93% of what the 23 does, and it usually sells around $376. At roughly $14.80 a standard drink against the 23's $30.70, with about twenty-five pours in each bottle, the family resemblance is the whole of the argument.

Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 — $331. Sweeter and rounder, with heavy toffee and caramel, sweet vanilla, sultanas and figs, candied orange peel and ripe tropical fruit drawn from Cuban rum casks. To a Craigellachie 23 drinker it gives about 75% of what the 23 does, and it usually sells around $331.

Dalmore 21 Malt — $990. Darker and sherried, with dark fruit, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, orange peel and a warming spice, finishing extraordinarily long. To a Craigellachie 23 drinker it gives about 73% of what the 23 does, and it usually sells around $990.

If Craigellachie 23 is already your bottle, nothing above replaces it and nothing needs to; $780 is the week's price, and the 19 is there on the nights you want the same distillery character for less. If you drink the Gran Reserva 21 for its sweetness, Craigellachie 23 will read as the drier, more structured pour. If the Dalmore 21 Malt is the bottle you know, the 23 trades sherry weight for spice and that waxy Speyside note. And if you are new to all of it, start with the 19 and climb — this is one distillery that makes the climb easy.