Crabbies Yardhead: Cheap and Cheerful or One for the Bin?

Last week I was idly browsing the spirits section of my local Morrisons (as I do on a semi-regular basis) when I spotted this little fella. I must confess to having never noticed it before. It was on offer at £16! I looked closer and saw that this was allegedly a single malt. Yes, that's right...a single malt for £16!!! I just had to take a closer look. What's the worst that could happen?!?!

So first thought. Crabbies, don't they do the ginger beers and the likes? What do they know about whisky? Well, quite a lot as it turns out! Back in the day they were well known for their blended whiskies and were once part of the Glenmorangie Group! Nowadays they are owned by Halewood International who own brands such as Whitley Neil, Red Square vodka and of course, Lambrini!

Halewood International are going for whisky in a big way. They have a range of aged single malts under the Crabbies brand from various unnamed distilleries from around Scotland, they recently completed the building of a new distillery in Edinburgh which began production in 2018 and they also have a second in the pipeline in Leith.

So what of this little gem then? Named Yardhead after the location of the original Crabbies warehouses it is a no age statement single malt from an un-named distillery, although we do know that it is from the Highlands. Crabbies describe this malt as being a whisky made for mixing and is definitely aimed at a younger demographic to the traditional whisky consumer.

So, enough preamble, lets get to the tasting...

Crabbies Yardhead
Region: Highlands (un-named distillery)
ABV: 40%
Age: No age statement
RRP: £26 (although I got mine for £16!!!)

Colour: Pale gold / deep straw. If this is a young whisky I suspect there may be caramel in here...

Nose: Strong liquorice, hints of burnt rubber and over-ripe bananas. Definitely some stone fruits in here (apricots and peaches). Plenty of sawdust too. It smells like it's going to be super dry and salty. I am currently not looking forward to trying this!

Palate: Well what a pleasant surprise! Nothing like I had expected from the nose! Lots of vanilla sweetness (think Edinburgh rock), Madeira cake and caramel. This then evolves and we get lots of salty spiciness, think chorizo or n'duja. This creates a pleasing salted caramel taste in the mouth.

Finish: As you would expect from a young whisky at this price it is incredibly short. The only thing that stays is that salty heat on the lips and a hint of woodiness that is reminiscent of cork.

I then added 1 cube of ice to see what that did to the flavour. This is something I rarely do as I like to taste my malt whisky neat, however it only seemed fair given what this whisky was intended for.  Wow! What a difference that made. It became incredibly sweet and creamy (so much American cream soda here). It became silky smooth and easy drinking. Gone was all the salty spiciness and there was no finish at all. This tasted like pop. Far too easy to drink!

So, in summary what did I make of this whisky? Would I buy it again? At that price it would be hard not to! When you are competing against cheap blends and the like this one wins hands down. Would I pay £30 for a bottle? I'm not sure. Does it smash other more expensive single malts in terms of taste? Probably not. But that is not what it was intended to do. As a whisky to enjoy over ice or with a mixer I genuinely cannot fault it. I think I'll be getting another bottle or two whilst it's on offer.

Malt whisky and coke anyone?


Until next time, sláinte!