CROFTENGEA 12 YEAR
Cask Strength SiB #322 selected by Cask, San Francisco (2017)MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 117.8
AGE – 12 years
DISTILLERY – Loch Lomond Distillery (bottled by A.D. Rattray)
PRICE – $119
WORTH BUYING? – Yes
Uncorked and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
A handful of years ago I was introduced to Croftengea via a 2018 bottle released by the great Hunter Laing under their “Hepburn’s Choice” label. It was a single cask, aged 12+ years, distilled in 2006 and bottled in 2018 at a natural cask strength of 56% ABV, or 112 proof. I loved it and bought a second bottle. I’d have bought a third but they’d all sold out by the time it occurred to me.
Sometime after that I came across some overstock of a Cooper’s Choice release of Croftengea, marked down from $70 to $55. It was also a single cask, also distilled in 2006, but aged 10+ years and bottled in 2017 or so at the same 56% ABV as the Hepburn’s Choice bottling. This apparently unwanted release, though not quite as wowing as the Hepburn’s Choice release, was nevertheless an utter joy to sip.
The fact that Croftengea seems to be totally under the radar is astounding, given its quality and the prices people are willing to pay for more familiar brands. In my experience with sweet peated scotch, Croftengea is among the best. It comes nearest of any other to my beloved Lagavulin 12 Year Cask Strength—the only Lagavulin release I bother myself with anymore. They share a wonderful balance of delicately sweet peat, beach campfire smoke, meatiness, creaminess, orchard and tropical fruits, lemon and salt.
Croftengea’s identity is a bit confusing, and this may partly figure into the lack of FOMO around it. It’s not a distillery itself, but a whisky recipe created by Loch Lomond Distillery, in the Highlands region. Of the recipes made under the Loch Lomond roof, Croftengea features the highest peat levels. Its primary use is to add complexity to Loch Lomond’s blends. Croftengea is rarely released under its own name, and then usually by independent bottlers. My eyes are always peeled for it.
So when I came across this bottling from A.D. Rattray, sitting derelict on the shelf at Cask in San Francisco since it arrived there back in 2017, I couldn’t hand over my money fast enough. Its 12 years gave me hopes for another experience like the 2019 Hepburn’s Choice bottling. The slightly higher proof gave me hopes for an even stronger flavor punch. The price was quite higher than my previous Croftengea purchases, but of course 2023 and 2019 are generations apart in Whisk(e)y Boom time.
So now that I’ve built it up unreasonably high, let’s get down into a glass. Here we are, three weeks after uncorking and a handful of pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – pale straw, yellow like fresh lemon juice, vibrant sunshiny amber
NOSE – salty ocean spray, vanilla custard and caramel, soft pastry dough with cream, gentle but prevalent peat, a wisp of smoke, milk chocolate, lemon zest, some kind of artisanal Twix Bar, oak tannin
TASTE – warm like a cozy wool blanket, a lightly syrupy texture, with peat, clay, vanilla, caramel, custard, cream, papaya, salty ocean spray, charcoal, and a flare of peppery heat in the end
FINISH – lingering warmth, peat, clay, charcoal, smoke ash, vanilla, custard, a faint whiff of the papaya, a bit of oak tannin and diesel smoke
OVERALL – A sweet peaty dram at a beach fire with pastry treats served
This is my baseline for a peated scotch. The minimum I want when I reach for a bottle. No single note leans in to overwhelm. It’s balanced, yet still the flavors are able to stand out individually. The peat and various post-fire notes are ubiquitous throughout the experience, yet the sweeter dessert, candy and fruit notes are able to stand prominently as well.
If I must find fault, it’s in what I’m calling the tannin and diesel notes. Together they create an acrid bitterness that isn’t to my liking, distracting a bit like a fly at the window. But still the view out that window is superb and anyway flies are natural creatures and they have their purpose.
In short, good stuff. And as I noted, Croftengea is not a victim of FOMO. Recall that Cooper’s Craft release I mentioned, which sat so long the price was knocked down 30% and still it sat there. And as I write this, nearing the mid-point of my Year of No Buying, I’ve got my eye on a 15-year Croftengea release, sitting forgotten on an online shelf, on sale down 25% from the original price. My fingers are crossed around Croftengea’s near anonymity that at least one bottle will remain come June 2024, when my thrifty year expires!
So if you’re a peat fan, or even peat curious, and you ever encounter a decently aged bottle of Croftengea, bottled and released by whomever, and the price is not too far north of $100, go for it. It’s no nonsense, friendly, rustic good stuff. Great for any season, though it sure does pop on a cool late-autumn day like the one I’m enjoying now.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 