If Craigellachie 19 is the bottle you reach for, the closest thing to it at a smaller outlay comes from its own distillery. Craigellachie 13, at $111, gives a Craigellachie 19 drinker about 87% of what the 19 itself does. Same hand, same house, a good deal of the same character, for less than a third of the money. That is the spine of this piece, and it is worth sitting with before we talk about anything else.
1/Craigellachie 23 is $780 this week. The 19 is $376, and gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of what they love, for 48% of the price. If you've built your nights around the 23, that's most of it, kept.
2/Craigellachie 19, $376 at Dan Murphy's. Nineteen years, 46%. The nose runs leaner than you'd expect: a cologne-like spritz, then fresh fruit. The palate turns crisp and toasty: dried pineapple, sweet chocolate pudding, char, honeysuckle, herbs, white fruits. A classy pour.
3/What a Craigellachie 23 drinker gives up with the 19 is mostly four years of age. The 23, $780, is still the one for its fans: added spice, ripe and dried fruit, a touch of old peat smoke, deep and long. The 19 is the one I'd pour on every other night.
| slot | 08-13 | 08-20 | 08-27 | 09-03 | 09-10 | 09-17 | 09-24 | 10-01 | 10-08 | 10-15 | 10-22 | 10-29 | 11-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list / member | · | · | · | · | · | · | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed | 375.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 375.99 | 375.99 | 0.00 | 375.99 | 375.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 375.99 | 100 |
| member | 375.99 | 375.99 | 0.00 | 375.99 | 375.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 375.99 | 100 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 375.99 | 0.00 | n < 8 | n < 8 | 376.0 – 376.0 |
Like the Craigellachie 19? I'd point a Craigellachie 19 drinker to the Craigellachie 13 at $111: about 87% of what the 19 gives, for 30% of its price. Caramel, citrus peel, a little grapefruit. One for lovers of the house style. More on the 19 in this week's piece. Tempted?
At $376, Craigellachie 19 lands inside what the drinkers of its nearest bottles would pay for it, each starting from their own: the answers run from $102 to $748. Which end you sit near depends on your usual dram — more in this week's piece on it.
I worked out the per-pour at home: Craigellachie 19 is $376, about 25 standard drinks in the bottle, so $14.80 a drink. A pint at the pub sits around $6.28 a standard drink, so this one lands above it. More on the 19 in this week's piece.
Craigellachie 19 sits at $376 at Dan Murphy's this week, which is about where it usually sells, around $376, so the price is holding to its own quiet pattern rather than doing anything out of character. The full read on it is in this week's piece.
I noticed the smoke first, just a touch of it. Then the Craigellachie 23 opens out: ripe and dried fruits, spice, melted white chocolate, baked pineapple, a little waxiness with water. Thick and silky, long and elegant. It's $780 this week. More in this week's piece.
Like Craigellachie 23? Craigellachie 19 gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of it, at 48% of the price. That's $376. Leaner, crisp, fresh fruits, a little dried pineapple. More on Craigellachie 23 in this week's piece.
Hand a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker the Craigellachie 23 and they'd pay 69% of what their own bottle costs, missing the sherry and dried fruit they're used to. Where the 23 lands among the bottles nearest it is in this week's piece.
Melted white chocolate, then baked pineapple and a drift of lilies: that's where Craigellachie 23 settles. It's $780 this week, usually around $800, with about 25 standard drinks in the bottle, so a pour at home works out to $30.70. More on it in this week's piece.
The bottle shop was quiet on a weekday afternoon, the kind of hour when you can read the back labels properly. Craigellachie 23 was $780 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $800. More on where it sits in this week's piece.
Love Craigellachie 23? Then Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 is worth a pour: it gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 75% of what they're after, at 42% of the price, landing at $331 this week, all toffee, caramel and sweet vanilla. Try one, and read the rest in this week's piece.
Craigellachie 13, $111. Speyside with its sleeves up: caramel and grapefruit pith on the nose, vanilla, then a rush of grilled pineapple, and an odd, lovable note of freshly washed wool jumper. More in this week's piece. What's your take on that pineapple?
Love Craigellachie 13? I'd reach for The Balvenie 12 American Oak at $99. It gives a Craigellachie 13 drinker about 90% of what that bottle does, for 89% of the price. Honeyed nose, navel oranges, lemon drops, then oak spice and a whisper of smoke. More in this week's piece.
Hand a Mortlach Wee Witchie 12 drinker a Craigellachie 13 and they'd pay 75% of what their own bottle costs them. Near enough, not quite level. Where its neighbours land is the thread running through this week's piece on the Craigellachie 13. Pour one and see where you sit.
$4.37 a pour at home: that's Craigellachie 13 at $111, about 25 standard drinks in the bottle. A pint at the pub runs about $6.28 a standard drink. If a rich, fruity Speyside is your thing, pour one and see. More in this week's piece on Craigellachie 13.
Craigellachie 13 is $111 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $111, so it's sitting right where you'd expect. If that grilled-pineapple Speyside has been catching your eye, this week's piece makes the case for pouring one. Give it a go.
Love Craigellachie 19? The Craigellachie 13 gives a Craigellachie 19 drinker about 87% of what the 19 does, for 30% of its price. Like a good cover band: most of the songs you came for, at a fraction of the ticket.
What does a Craigellachie 23 actually cost, and what else sits beside it? This is a price guide: the usual price for Craigellachie 23, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink works out to this week — set next to its three closest single malts. One question, four bottles, and no surprises buried in the small print.
Same distillery, the same pineapple thread running through all three. The question each step asks is simple: what does the extra get you, and what does the younger bottle still give the older one's drinker?
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
If Craigellachie 23 is the bottle you reach for, the honest answer to "what's the closest thing for less?" comes from the same distillery under the same name. Craigellachie 19, at $376, gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of what their own bottle does, which is about as near as one whisky gets to another.
A mate had it open on the kitchen bench the other night, no ceremony, just a bottle of Craigellachie 13 and two glasses. Before I'd got halfway down he asked the only question that matters in that moment: if I like this, what else would do the job?
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craigellachie 23 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $799.99 | $356.43 | +443.56 |
| 2 | Tomintoul 21 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $368.99 | $351.55 | +17.44 |
| 3 | The Macallan Double Cask 18 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $635.99 | $346.70 | +289.29 |
| 4 | The Balvenie Stories 21YO 'The Second Red Rose' Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $726.99 | $340.36 | +386.63 |
| 5 | Tomintoul 16 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $180.99 | $338.41 | -157.42 |
| 6 | Craigellachie CRAIGELLACHIE® 13 YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $110.99 | $334.53 | -223.54 |
| 7 | The Balvenie The Balvenie 21 Year Old Portwood Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $452.99 | $330.16 | +122.83 |
| 8 | Tomintoul 25YO Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $732.99 | $324.59 | +408.40 |
| 9 | The Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $377.99 | $322.05 | +55.94 |
| 10 | Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $298.95 | $306.14 | -7.19 |