Craigellachie 13: pineapple, pith and a washed-wool twang

Here's the short version. Hand a Craigellachie 13 drinker a Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 and they get about 90% of what they like. Turn it around, and a Mortlach drinker handed a Craigellachie 13 would pay only 75% of what their own bottle costs them, marking it down mostly for the name on the label. So it's a one-way swap: it travels better in one direction than the other.

What's in the glass. Craigellachie 13 is a Speyside single malt, thirteen years old. The nose is rich and layered — caramel, citrus peel and a bit of grapefruit pith, vanilla, then a big hit of tropical fruit, grilled and candied pineapple. There's a funky note running underneath, like a freshly washed wool sweater, and it belongs there.

Three bottles that cover much the same ground, with what each usually sells for:

Craigellachie 19 ($376). Leaner and more aromatic, the pineapple now dried, with char, honeysuckle and a sweet chocolate pudding note. To a Craigellachie 13 drinker it gives about 91% of what the 13 does.

The Balvenie 12 American Oak ($99). Dripping honey, navel oranges, sliced red apples, a little caramel and vanilla. About 90% of what the 13 does.

Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 ($170). Baked apricots and ginger, black pepper, milk chocolate running right through it. Also about 90%.

Craigellachie 13 is $111 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $111. That works out to about $4.37 a standard drink across the roughly 25 drinks in the bottle — under the $6.28 a standard drink of a $13 pint at the pub. The Balvenie sits down there too, at $4.17 a pour.

Now the other way of pricing it: what the drinkers of the bottles nearest Craigellachie 13 would pay for it, each starting from what they pay for their own. Across those drinkers the answers run from $86 to $325. The one who marks it down hardest is the Mortlach drinker, who'd put it at about $127 — 75% of what their own bottle costs them. They take it off mostly for the name on the label, and for the sherry and dried fruit the Craigellachie doesn't give them. The other way round, a Craigellachie 13 drinker puts the Mortlach at about 90% of their own bottle, for the same two reasons. At $111, this week's price sits inside what the drinkers of the bottles nearest it would pay.

So who's it for. If Craigellachie 13 is already your bottle, nothing here asks you to move — $111 buys the pineapple and wool you came for. If you drink the Balvenie 12, this is close neighbouring ground, $111 against your $99. If the 19 is your usual pour, the 13 gives you most of the same character at $111 against the 19's $376. And if you're a Mortlach drinker, you'll find the Craigellachie lighter and less sherried — worth a glass before you commit to a bottle.

So what's open on your bench tonight, and what would you reach for after it?