Rare Find Braeval 16yo Cask #9504 & Rare Find Craigellachie 11yo Cask #82

Rare Find Braeval 16yo Cask #9504

Region: Speyside

ABV: 62.0%

Price: £118.00

Distilled on 11 February 2009 and finished for 12 months in a first fill bourbon barrel. It was bottled in 2025 after 16 years of maturation. The outturn was 195 bottles. For full transparency, Gleann Mor provided us with a sample - though, of course, this won’t influence our review.

Nose

The nose opens with fresh cherries, Turkish delight, and quite an artificial pink confectionery aroma. There's also lemon peel, sweet cinnamon, candied almonds and a little cooking milk chocolate. At 62% we were expecting to struggle with the nose, however it's easier than expected to get into the glass - although you can definitely tell it's a cask strength dram. As the dram gets more air, we're getting some biscuit crumbs and vanilla essence. 

Palate

The palate opens with fizzy cola mixed with fresh vanilla ice cream - sort of like a Coca Cola ice cream float, lemon sherbet, a little star anise, and a fair bit of peppery spice - the alcohol is very prominent on the palate. That spice lingers through to the good length finish, still sticking to that cola flavour, but this time in the form of cola bottle sweeties. The mouthfeel has a caramel-like texture, but the mid-palate feels thinner than we'd expect. There's also some chocolate orange flavours coming through as the dram opens up.

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose comes through with more chocolate aromas, however we're also getting more of a prickly alcohol bite than before. Saying that, there's also more caramel and toffee notes, a touch of apple, and it feels sweeter overall.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate maintains the good texture in the mouth, and continues with the Coca Cola and vanilla ice cream theme - with a wedge of fresh lemon thrown in. It's slightly tamer alcohol-wise, and we think a dash of water really helps this dram.

Conclusion

Soft on the nose, bold and punchy on the palate. We initially thought this may have touched some sort of sherry or wine cask, but the bourbon finish comes through as the dram opens up, and we think this fresh cask really lifts the dram. Our biggest criticism is the alcohol, the nose is fine but the palate is a bit too hot. Tasty whisky otherwise.

Score: 7/10

Value

On the expensive side for a 16-year-old, but independent Braeval bottlings usually are.

Rare Find Craigellachie 11yo Cask #82

Region: Speyside

ABV: 51.4%

Price: £74.00

Distilled in 2014 and finished for 9 months in a first fill Oloroso hogshead that had been seasoned for 18 months, this Craigellachie was released in summer 2025 as an online exclusive. Drawn from cask 82 and bottled at 11 years old with an outturn of 145 bottles. Once again, the sample was provided to us.

Nose

The nose opens with fabric softener, it's quite floral, white flowers, a few honeyed notes in the background, along with a bit of cinder toffee. The Craigellachie spirit (or funk as we usually refer to it as) is quite restrained here, there's a bit of musty, foostiness in the background but you have to go searching for it - we wouldn't have pegged this as Craigellachie off the bat. Going back, we're getting fresh scones with jam and clotted cream, earthenware pots and a little banana peel too.

Palate

The palate opens with lots of red fruits - both berries and red apple skins, grape must, raspberries, strawberries, it's a fruit bowl of flavours. It's also much sweeter than we anticipated, lots and lots of candied flavours mixing with those fresh, ripe fruits. The Craigellachie character is much more apparent on the palate, with a funky, earthy, slightly mouldy background note. The texture is a little thin - it's more like juice drink than freshly squeezed, and the alcohol is a tad warm as the palate develops - leaving mostly cherry cola and ginger spice lingering for a medium length. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has more oloroso coming through, both in the aromas of nutmeg and cloves, alongside some roasted game meats, and a handful of prunes. It feels a bit thicker on the nose, a lot of those lighter floral notes have disappeared and the sherry-soaked wood has started to take over.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate maintains the burst of fruitiness and sweetness, but leans more into the darker berries and brown sugar as opposed to the unreduced palate. It feels a little more in balance now, especially with the alcohol bite toning itself down.

Conclusion

The sherry cask has brought a heap of fruit to this dram on the palate, but hasn't gone too far, instead it's complemented the weightier Craigellachie spirit. It's very sweet, very very sweet, and a bit warm in places, but it's doing a good job in swaying our usual Craigellachie-aversion. We're between a 6.5 and a 7, but a splash of water brings this to a 7.

Score: 7/10

Value

A few pounds cheaper would have been nice, but all things considered, it's not a terrible price.

• 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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