If Craigellachie 23 is the bottle you reach for, the honest answer to "what's the closest thing for less?" comes from the same distillery under the same name. Craigellachie 19, at $376, gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of what their own bottle does, which is about as near as one whisky gets to another.
Craigellachie 23 is the long end of a distillery that keeps stepping up as it ages. Against the younger bottlings there is a clear change here: more spice, ripe fruit both fresh-cooked and dried, and a touch of the peat smoke the distillery once added in a lighter hand. A drop of water brings out maple syrup and a waxy edge, and the whole thing turns complex and deep. The palate is thick and silky, melted white chocolate first, then lilies and baked pineapple, running long and layered to a close that feels elegant rather than heavy.
This week Craigellachie 23 is $780 at Dan Murphy's; it usually sells around $800. That is the figure to hold in your head when you start comparing.
1/What does a Craigellachie 23 actually cost, and what else sits beside it? This is a price guide: the usual price for Craigellachie 23, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink works out to this week — set next to its three closest single malts. One question, four bottles, and no surprises buried in the small print.
2/| Bottle | Usually around | Range we've seen | This week | Per standard drink, this week | |---|---:|---|---:|---:| | Craigellachie 23 | $800 | $780–$800 | $800 | $31.49 | | Craigellachie 19 | $376 | $376 | $376 | $14.80 | | The Balvenie Stories 21 'The Second Red Rose' | $727 | $727 | $727 | $27.37 | | The Macallan Double Cask 18 | $636 | $632–$636 | $636 | $26.78 |
3/Read against the guide, the week is quiet. Craigellachie 23 sits at $800, right where it usually sells around $800. The 19 is at $376, the Balvenie Stories 21 at $727, the Macallan Double Cask 18 at $636. None has dipped to its low this week.
| slot | 08-13 | 08-20 | 08-27 | 09-03 | 09-10 | 09-17 | 09-24 | 10-01 | 10-08 | 10-15 | 10-22 | 10-29 | 11-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list / member | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 780.00 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed | 780.00 observed | 799.99 observed | 799.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 796.91 | 799.99 | 7.51 | 780.00 | 799.99 | 19.99 | 0.9% | 2.08 | 799.99 | 100 |
| member | 796.91 | 799.99 | 7.51 | 780.00 | 799.99 | 19.99 | 0.9% | 2.08 | 799.99 | 100 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 796.91 | 56.35 | -2.18 | 3.22 | 792.8 – 801.0 |
Craigellachie 19 arrives slimmed and crisp, fresh fruits giving way to dried pineapple, then sweet chocolate pudding, char and honeysuckle. Classy and large, and $376 this week. Pour one to meet the leaner side of the house. More on it in this week's piece.
Like the Craigellachie 19? I'd point a Craigellachie 19 drinker to the Craigellachie 13 at $111: about 87% of what the 19 gives, for 30% of its price. Caramel, citrus peel, a little grapefruit. One for lovers of the house style. More on the 19 in this week's piece. Tempted?
At $376, Craigellachie 19 lands inside what the drinkers of its nearest bottles would pay for it, each starting from their own: the answers run from $102 to $748. Which end you sit near depends on your usual dram — more in this week's piece on it.
I worked out the per-pour at home: Craigellachie 19 is $376, about 25 standard drinks in the bottle, so $14.80 a drink. A pint at the pub sits around $6.28 a standard drink, so this one lands above it. More on the 19 in this week's piece.
Craigellachie 19 sits at $376 at Dan Murphy's this week, which is about where it usually sells, around $376, so the price is holding to its own quiet pattern rather than doing anything out of character. The full read on it is in this week's piece.
Ever met a whisky that tastes its age? I nosed the Dalmore 21 Malt and found dark fruit, chocolate, orange peel and sherry; the palate turns to caramel and oak, the finish runs long with sherry and spice. $990, and it drinks like twenty-one years. More in this week's piece.
Like the Dalmore 21 Malt? The Dalmore 18 gives a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker about 96% of what the 21 does. American oak and oloroso, honey, orange marmalade, a long citrus finish. At $536 it comes to 54% of the 21's price. More on the Dalmore 21 Malt in this week's piece.
Hand a Glenfiddich 18 drinker a Dalmore 21 Malt and they'd put up 66% of what their own bottle costs them, the markdown resting more on the name than the pour. This week's piece walks through where that lands — so which way would you lean?
A glass of Dalmore 21 Malt comes to $42.68 a standard drink at home, about 23 pours from the bottle — rich, chocolatey, long on sherry. Pour one and see; this week's piece has the full tasting of the Dalmore 21 Malt.
Dalmore 21 Malt is $990 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $990, so this is the shape of it to keep in mind. Twenty-one years of sherry, dark fruit and chocolate, with a finish that stays. Worth a pour if it's calling you. More in this week's piece.
Fond of the Dalmore 21 Malt? The Dalmore 12 at $149 carries about 72% of what it gives a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker, for 15% of the outlay: tangerines and soft toffee on the nose, orange and spicy dark chocolate, then vanilla and prunes to close. More in this week's piece.
Craigellachie 23 sits at $780 this week, where it usually sells around $800. For a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker it gives about 69% of what that bottle does, at 79% of its price — ripe dried fruit, a little peat smoke, maple syrup. More on Dalmore 21 Malt in this week's piece.
Like Craigellachie 23? Craigellachie 19 gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of it, at 48% of the price. That's $376. Leaner, crisp, fresh fruits, a little dried pineapple. More on Craigellachie 23 in this week's piece.
Hand a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker the Craigellachie 23 and they'd pay 69% of what their own bottle costs, missing the sherry and dried fruit they're used to. Where the 23 lands among the bottles nearest it is in this week's piece.
Melted white chocolate, then baked pineapple and a drift of lilies: that's where Craigellachie 23 settles. It's $780 this week, usually around $800, with about 25 standard drinks in the bottle, so a pour at home works out to $30.70. More on it in this week's piece.
The bottle shop was quiet on a weekday afternoon, the kind of hour when you can read the back labels properly. Craigellachie 23 was $780 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $800. More on where it sits in this week's piece.
Love Craigellachie 23? Then Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 is worth a pour: it gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 75% of what they're after, at 42% of the price, landing at $331 this week, all toffee, caramel and sweet vanilla. Try one, and read the rest in this week's piece.
What are you paying for in Craigellachie 23? Price its age, name, strength and style the way the rest of the whisky at Dan Murphy's is priced, and you land near $376. It's $780 this week, about 107% over that going rate.
Craigellachie 23 is $780 this week. The 19 is $376, and gives a Craigellachie 23 drinker about 93% of what they love, for 48% of the price. If you've built your nights around the 23, that's most of it, kept.
Same distillery, the same pineapple thread running through all three. The question each step asks is simple: what does the extra get you, and what does the younger bottle still give the older one's drinker?
Craigellachie 23 doesn't taste much like the bottles sitting near it. The price keeps to itself in the same way. It isn't set for the whole room; it's set for the people who already reach for this one.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
If Craigellachie 19 is the bottle you reach for, the closest thing to it at a smaller outlay comes from its own distillery. Craigellachie 13, at $111, gives a Craigellachie 19 drinker about 87% of what the 19 itself does. Same hand, same house, a good deal of the same character, for less than a third of the money. That is the spine of this piece, and it is worth sitting with before we talk about anything else.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
If the Dalmore 21 Malt is the one you reach for, the closest thing to it at a lower price carries the same name. The Dalmore 18 is $536, and to a Dalmore 21 Malt drinker it gives about 96% of what their own bottle does. Same distillery, most of the way there, a little over half the money.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomintoul 25YO Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $732.99 | $758.67 | -25.68 |
| 2 | Craigellachie 19YO Single Malt Whisky 700ml | $375.99 | $754.43 | -378.44 |
| 3 | Tomintoul 21 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $368.99 | $746.29 | -377.30 |
| 4 | The Balvenie Stories 21YO 'The Second Red Rose' Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $726.99 | $718.05 | +8.94 |
| 5 | The Balvenie The Balvenie 21 Year Old Portwood Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $452.99 | $694.47 | -241.48 |
| 6 | The Macallan Double Cask 18 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $635.99 | $688.47 | -52.48 |
| 7 | Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $298.95 | $635.18 | -336.23 |
| 8 | Tomintoul 16 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $180.99 | $613.74 | -432.75 |
| 9 | The Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $377.99 | $586.62 | -208.63 |
| 10 | Glenfiddich Grand Cru 23 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $558.99 | $567.09 | -8.10 |