CRN57° 18 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky & CRN57° 30 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

CRN57° 18 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

Region: Scotlands

ABV: 43.0%

Price: £80.00 

Released by Gordon & MacPhail through its The Cairn Distillery brand, this 18-year-old blended malt was created from mature whisky stocks held by Gordon & MacPhail and is intended to preview the character of a future 18-year-old single malt from The Cairn. The current CRN57° range was launched in 2025. Gordon & MacPhail has not disclosed the component whiskies, cask types, cask numbers or bottle outturn.

Nose

The nose opens with candied ginger, cinnamon sticks, a little fresh chili, wet earth and mushy red apple. There's a certain mustiness here, dunnagey warehouse aromas, old wooden furniture, and a certain herbal note. The alcohol feels quite well balanced, and time and air brings out raisins, orange rind, and a little bit of treacle. 

Palate

The palate opens with lots of fresh raspberries, strawberry jam, citrus peels, moving into apple slices, caramel and some fizzy candied on the finish. It's quite a different palate to the nose, and one that feels fresher and brighter. There's still a bit of dunnagey mustiness on the finish, but it's much more lively. The texture is good, there's a thick, sugar syrup-like sensation in the mouth, and we're also finding more chocolate and cinnamon notes as time and air gets into the glass. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose maintains the earthy, slightly dirty aspects, but has more wood spice coming through, much more clove and cinnamon spice. There's now some dark chocolate coming through which works nicely with the bit of fresh chili that's still present on the nose.  

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate maintains the red fruits, fizziness and brightness, although it does feel a little weaker now. Some of those earthier flavours begin to take over on the finish. Personally, we don't think this needs any water.

Conclusion

The nose and palate are worlds apart on this dram - very musty and earthy on the nose, but super bright and vibrant on the palate. It's an enjoyable dram, we can't deny the quality of the spirit and wood here, but the nose feels flatter than we'd like.

Score: 7/10

Value

Reasonable value for an 18yo blended malt, although we'd prefer a slightly higher ABV. 

CRN57° 30 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

Region: Scotland

ABV: 43.0%

Price: £300.00 

Released by Gordon & MacPhail through The Cairn Distillery, this 30-year-old blended malt was created from mature malt whisky stocks to offer a preview of the style The Cairn hopes its own single malt may develop after three decades. The component distilleries, distillation years, cask types, cask numbers and bottle outturn have not been disclosed.

Nose

The nose opens with dry roasted nuts, brown sugar, a little cinnamon and butterscotch. Lots of richer, darker sherried notes are appearing for us. We're also finding dates in syrup, toffee pennies and some cracked black pepper. We'd not place this as old as 30, it's missing some of the subtleties of that age of whisky, and perhaps the sherry has overtaken some of the spirit. Time and air brings fruitcake, dark chocolate and ginger snap biscuits.

Palate

The palate opens with a lovely mixture of sweetened lemonade, toffee and caramels, candied ginger, fresh ripe red apples and red berries. There's also some darker fruits beginning to appear on subsequent sips, blackcurrants and black cherry too. There's a little more spice appearing, not overpowering but warmer than we would expect. The finish has a lot of aniseed and cheek-puckering oak. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose feels a little dirtier, dried leaves and earth, mixed with more cinnamon and clove spice. There's also more of those dates, raisins and sultanas - the fruit is very much dried and the sweetness concentrated. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate loses some texture, but maintains its brightness and vibrancy. A mix of sweet caramel, juicy red berries, apples and a bit of earthen floor on the finish. We'd skip water here.

Conclusion

Subtle, sherried, old style - three words (ok, maybe four) that describe this dram for us. We preferred the palate, it has more character than the nose for us. We wouldn't blindly guess 30 years old, but there are some nice old whisky aromas/flavours here.

Score: 7.5/10

Value

This feels a little pricey given the ABV and the lack of information on what goes into it.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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