CRAGGANMORE SCOTCH 12 YR

Cragganmore's flat-top pot stills are genuinely unusual — most Speyside distilleries use tall, onion-shaped stills that produce lighter spirit, but the squat design here increases copper contact and pushes the distillate toward unusual complexity for the region. Water drawn from the Craggan Burn feeds the process at this Ballindalloch distillery, founded in 1869. Aged 12 years in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, the whisky opens with dried fruit, vanilla, and floral heather, then moves into sandalwood and faint wood smoke on a long, malt-driven finish.