ABV: 43 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a thick sweetness, both from ripe red fruits/berries and from a vanilla/honey mix. There’s a stickyness to it, but there’s a small but piercing fresh raspberry note breaking through. There’s a slightly unpleasant turpentine note which brings it down a notch. With time the vanilla grows strong around the edges and some floral notes arrive. It doesn’t produce much age notes and feels much younger than its age. This is a nice nose. It would be a lot better with a bit more umpf and some notes of age, but it’s pleasant enough.

Mouth: It starts out with vanilla before producing raisins and overripe plums together with a hint of sulfur. Within there’s a mix of both cooking and baking spices and on top there’s a black pepper spicyness. The turpentine carries over from the nose and still brings it down a bit, but less than on the nose fortunately. There’s a small hint of some dusty oak in the back and it finally shows some age. It’s not much but still something. There’s a slight bitterness in the back and a hint of play-doh as well.

Finish: The transition starts with a much needed slight increase in spicyness which helps it along. Underneath, the ripe fruits and berries fight for attention with the sweet notes and the vanilla. In the end the latter wins and merges with the oakiness. It’s a dry oakiness which has many faces. One is vanilla rich, another is slightly bitter and the third is a grey old dusty one. This is a very good whisky, which feels a bit mistreated by the cask selection.

Additional information
There is no information to be found on the aging process of this whisky except that sherry casks were involved. It’s the only standard release of Dailuaine, yet it is limited.

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