Taste: Cadenhead's Craigellachie-Glenlivet Berlin edition

This is a unique celebration bottling authorised by Cadenhead's for the anniversary of their Berlin shop. To mark a decade of existence they allowed the Berlin manager to pick out a cask from their extensive inventory. Specifically for the German market, a few bottles were ushered to other Cadenhead branches to participate in the occasion.

The UK as a whole received just 18 bottles and these unsurprisingly have since sold out, with a recent Jolly Topper tasting allowing attendees to experience this dram. While we can deliberate why a 14 year old whisky for a decade anniversary seems a little skewed, we can confirm exactly why this unfashionable Speyside distillery was selected; Craigellachie-Glenlivet is the favourite distillery of the Berlin store manager.

If you don't have the opportunity to visit Speyside, then flick through a copy of the Malt Whisky Year Book and consider how many of these names you rarely see or hear. Craigellachie-Glenlivet is such an unfashionable distillery, mainly engaged in blends, its single malts are bottled occasionally by independent bottlers. To date the only official bottling is a 14 year old that has been available since 2004 so its safe to suggest that this one is well under the radar.

Lets move onto the contents within but first the release details:

Distillery: Craigellachie-Glenlivet
Distilled: 2000
Bottled: February 2014 (14 years)
Strength: 55.1%
Price: £48
Additional: Bottled to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Cadenhead Berlin shop
Edition: 234 bottles, only 18 released in the UK

Colour: Golden sunshine

Nose: What a lovely nose that reeks of Speyside and sweetness. Birds Eye Custard, almonds, pineapple, pears, a little orange peel and a little touch of vanilla from the bourbon cask.

Taste: I suppose in fairness the actual tasting is a disappointment after the vibrant nose but that's not to detract from what is an enjoyable romp. More sweetness with honey, millionares shortbread, then we're back in fruit orchard with apples and pears before the sugar rush finish.

A lovely fun, summer-focused dram. Being on the fringes of Spring this transports me to the summer; I'd love to be sitting outside sampling this on a gloriously warm, relaxing afternoon. There was a sugar overdosed fruit drink that was meant to give you a taste of sunshine but this Craigellachie dram does the job with ease. While you can add water, I don't think it is really necessary and the balance of the whisky is delightful.