Diageo's Special Releases programme has, for decades now, been the annual calendar event that serious whisky collectors plan their autumn around. The 2018 edition brought us Cladach — a name drawn from the Gaelic for "shore" — and it arrived as a blended malt bottled at a robust 57.1% ABV. No age statement, no confirmed single source, just a coastal concept executed at cask strength. I'll be honest: I approached this one with a healthy scepticism. NAS blended malts at £150 need to earn their place on the shelf. Cladach, I'm pleased to report, largely does.
What to Expect
Let's address the label first. Cladach is categorised as a blended malt, meaning it draws from multiple single malt distilleries — no grain whisky in the vatting. The 57.1% ABV tells you immediately that this was bottled without chill-filtration at what is essentially cask strength, and that commands a certain respect. At this proof, you're getting the whisky as close to the cask as Diageo is willing to offer in a wide release. The coastal theme suggests a maritime character — think salt air, brine, and the kind of mineral backbone you find in malts from Scotland's western seaboard. Without a confirmed distillery list, one can only speculate on the components, but the Special Releases programme has historically drawn from some of Diageo's finest stocks, and the blending team behind these annual bottlings rarely puts a foot wrong.
At this strength, water is not optional — it's essential. A few drops will open the spirit up considerably, and I'd encourage patience here. Give it five minutes in the glass before you start nosing. Cask-strength blended malts reward those who don't rush them.
The Verdict
At £150, Cladach sits in a competitive bracket. You could buy a named, age-stated single malt from a reputable distillery for the same money, and many drinkers will rightly weigh that up. What Cladach offers instead is the craft of the blender — the art of bringing multiple distillery characters into a single, coherent dram. When it works, blended malt can be greater than the sum of its parts, and I believe Cladach achieves that. The cask-strength bottling is a commitment to quality that I appreciate, and the coastal concept gives it an identity beyond being simply "a blend."
Is it flawless? No. The lack of transparency around the component malts will frustrate those of us who like to know exactly what we're drinking. And £150 for an NAS bottling, however well-assembled, asks the buyer to place considerable faith in the Diageo name. But the Special Releases carry a certain pedigree, and on the evidence of what's in my glass, that pedigree is deserved here. I'm scoring Cladach at 7.7 out of 10 — a genuinely good whisky that rewards attention and sits comfortably in the upper tier of recent blended malt releases.
Best Served
Neat, in a Glencairn, with a small jug of room-temperature water on the side. At 57.1%, you'll want to add water in stages — start with three or four drops and build from there. This is an evening dram, not a casual pour. Give it the time and the glassware it deserves, and Cladach will repay you handsomely.
