An Intricate Finesse | 53.5% ABV

Addiction

Addiction is no fun. We can lose control of our decision-making, relying on substances or actions that are harmful in the long term to our physical or mental well-being.

As with any alcohol, addiction is a serious issue in whisky. Occasionally, it’s tackled somewhat amongst those brave enough in the community. I’m reminded of a poignant article written in Malt way back in 2019. It has also been addressed in WhiskyTube. Aqvavitae has dedicated a vPub to whisky and health in early 2022; Ralfy has regularly dropped in snippets of his experience with alcoholism and sternly warns us about the risk of falling into that spiral. In my opinion the Whiskey Tribe’s quarterly dry week, which strives to keep their community in check, is one of the most engaging efforts to address the issue of awareness in alcohol enjoyment.

While I have no intentions of taking alcoholism lightly, it’s not my intention to address it here. My focus on addiction is elsewhere - this time around.

You see, I work in the gaming industry, which itself is a euphemism, so let me rephrase: I work in gambling. 

The industry has redefined itself with a new name precisely because it recognises the negative connotations that come with the word “gambling” and its negative connections with addictions and other social issues.

My passions as a teenager were three things, football, music, and science. I took up a degree in mechanical engineering, and upon graduation, I was pursuing jobs in engineering. But at the time, the job market for engineering wasn’t particularly hot, and it didn't pay as well as other parts of the world, so I began looking into alternate fields: finance, marketing, insurance, sales, and all sorts of things that weren’t related to engineering. Then I stumbled into something interesting; a job and potentially a career that would combine two of my passions: football and science, mathematics to be specific, and that was to work for a gambling company, compiling odds for football matches. 

When I first began, my day-to-day job revolved around watching football, analysing data, playing around with mathematical models, and quantifying the unquantifiable. Work was hard, but my colleagues were great, the experience was fun, and I slowly progressed through the ranks like a lot of us do in our careers. Nowadays, my work isn’t so hands-on, with more management responsibilities, but arguably the younger colleagues inject even more energy into me, and there’s always a buzz in the office.

What we are shielded from, however, is the reality that we inadvertently help to shape society. We are enabling the formation of potential addicts. 

Gambling is a form of entertainment, I see it with my friends, when they have a stake in a match, even if they wouldn’t have supported either team, they become a lot more engaged, without the act of making a bet, the football might be a lot more dull for them, but this form of entertainment is only fun when it’s done responsibly. 

A friend of mine described his father as an avid gambler, he would place a £2 bet on a team to win, if he wins the bet, he would be as elated as if he’s won £2,000, but if he doesn’t, it’s just a £2 loss, that is responsible gambling, and that is entertaining and fun. 

Readers from the UK would probably be familiar with the slogan “When the fun stops, stop”, and that is a message directed at problem gamblers who become obsessed with gambling to the point where they are spending beyond their means, and it’s not fun anymore, not for them, certainly not for their family, and most likely not for their friends either.

There’s another type of addiction that I would like to address which may resonate more with the Dramface readership. Shopping addiction, AKA shopaholism. 

In the online community, we often speak of it as over-accumulation, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean addiction, it can be a sign of addiction. When we find ourselves impulse purchasing whisky, to the point where it’s starting to become a financial strain, I believe that to be a form of shopaholism. 

And here is where I shall confess: While I don’t think I’ve ever overstepped to the point where I can’t feed myself and my family, there was a period when I spent way too much on whisky, so I would say, yes, I was once a whisky shopaholic. 

FOMO played a considerable part, and I can remember some of the exact bottles I purchased and paid over the odds for, as a result of FOMO. One of them was the Glenlivet 12-year-old Illicit Still, because I watched a Ralfy review and was so curious that there was more that Glenlivet could deliver other than their core range. At the time, the bottle was unavailable in my market, but the moment I found one, I jumped on it and paid well over the odds. Another bottle was the Springbank 15, I had a bottle of Springbank 10, but out of nowhere, I learned that the Springbank 15 was all sherry cask matured, obviously, I had to have it, so I dived into the secondary market and looked for the best deal, and paid a ridiculous £260 for it. 

But at least I could attribute the bottles mentioned above to FOMO rather than addiction. My peak addiction was when I created a habit of taking a detour to whisky shops to “browse around” their selections, which I could actually see online because most of them have websites. More often than not, visiting the shops resulted in me picking up a bottle: Bunnahabhain 12, Glenfarclas 21, Arran 10, Balblair 12, Clynelish 14, Oban 14, Kilchoman Loch Gorm, Nikka Coffey Malt, Yoichi NAS, Elijah Craig Small Batch, a few Diageo Special Releases, some independent bottles… the list goes on and on. I was a whisky shopaholic, I caught an addiction.

While I’m glad to share that I’m no longer (as) addicted to buying whisky, some of the whiskies I bought during that phase are still around, and looking back at my current collection, I can have an honest reflection and evaluate what type of whiskies I’ve ended up buying, which ones I’ve rinsed and replaced, and more importantly, which are the ones I truly enjoyed. 

I love a good spreadsheet, so it’s no surprise that I keep a record detailing my collection, which gives me a good look at what I have too much or not enough of, and would help me make more informed decisions about what to buy in the future.

Most surprisingly, some of my perceived permashelf bottles are missing. I don’t currently have an Ardbeg 10 or a Port Charlotte 10, but given a lengthy wishlist saved on my phone, maybe it’ll be a while before these supposed custodians make a return.

Review

Craigellachie 17yo, SMWS 44.148, An Intricate Finesse, Ex-bourbon barrel, HK & US release, 53.5% ABV
£80 equivalent paid.

You see, my FOMO resulted not only in more bottles, but also me purchasing a year of Scotch Malt Whisky Society membership, which further yielded six bottles, and this is one of them.

SMWS is famous for its not-so-secretive code system, which here we spare you 5 seconds of googling: distillery 44 is the Craigellachie distillery. As a 17-year-old, it would be interesting to do a side-by-side with the official 17-year-old, but unfortunately, I don’t have one currently, so that would have to be an exercise for the future. 

For those of you who have read my debut piece, I was fascinated by the idea of leaving the spirit in a quiet cask and letting it do its thing, so this was a deliberate purchase to chase that type of experience. From the information provided by SMWS, the whisky was allowed to slowly mature in a 2nd fill ex-bourbon cask for 17 years, undisturbed, so let’s see what an alternative Craigellachie can offer.

Nose

Very waxy nose, big vanilla, ginger, fresh fruits, cream soda, a perfume kind of floral, scented candles maybe.

Palate

Waxy again, and for a cask strength whisky, it’s an easy sipper. Sweet, sour and savoury all at once on the arrival. Vanilla extract, butterscotch, green apples, white sugar and white pepper on the development, slightly coastal. Long finish with vanilla again, as well as a hint of salt. Disappointingly, it doesn’t take water well, adding some water turns the already vanilla dominant whisky into a vanilla bomb, which makes the whisky fairly one-dimensional and a bit flat.

The Dregs

I didn’t tell the whole truth.

I did actually do a side-by-side of these two bottles when I still had a Craigellachie 17, but it was a while ago, so I can’t responsibly write notes based on memory as if I’ve just done it. In fact, I brought the two bottles to share with a friend, not telling him the full details, only after we drank both whiskies did I tell him that they were from the same distillery. He enjoyed the twist, but we both agreed that we could barely draw a straight line to connect the two.

It was a difficult decision to score this a 6 or 7, but ultimately its inability to take water nudged this towards a 6, it’s a cask strength whisky after all and I expected the liberty of playing with water. Overall, still a good whisky nonetheless.

Some of us are more prone to addictions than others. If you are one of those who don’t succumb to addiction, I envy you, your level of self control probably serves you well in other aspects of life too; for those of you who do succumb to addiction, and please be honest with yourself. It’s not your fault you're built in such a way.

Take extra care and caution, any form of addiction can spiral into something that destroys your life. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, especially my pals at Dramface.

Score: 6/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc

Other opinions on this:

Whiskybase

and you really should read that article on Malt.

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