Dailuaine | Whisky Den

Bought: Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 17^th October 2016

Ratings:
0/100 – Whiskybase (awaiting votes)
4/5- Philip Storry (his review here)

Although there are no ratings yet for this Dailuaine single malt on Whiskybase, of the five 11-year-old bottlings by the SMWS with scores, the lowest is 81/100, then two at 86/100, one at 86.5/100 and finally an excellent 88/100. This is similar to how Dailuaine by the SMWS does in the Whisky Bible across all ages. At one point a 10-year-old scores an amazing 94.5/100.

11 years seems to be a good age for Dailuaine single malt and this cask strength version packs a punch at 60.1%. The distillery uses ex-bourbon casks, which are usually finished in sherry casks when destined for single malt (e.g., the Flora and Fauna 16yo) but the SMWS have taken this cask as it comes, matured in first fill ex-bourbon barrels.

Distilled in 2005 and bottled in 2016 this Dailuaine is named ‘Lively and Entertaining’. Here are the notes provided by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society:

Flavour profile: Young & spritely

Constantly changing aromas; candied ginger, lemon and honey sponge cake, sour apple sherbet as well as aniseed and ginger thrown in for good measure – this one just would not sit still! So we took a sip – what a surprise; spicy chocolate-dipped pineapple with sea salt as well as sour cherry and black pepper ice cream – we certainly did not get bored with this one. Water calmed it down – well, a little – slightly smoky white peppered strawberries with a balsamic vinaigrette on the nose and milk chocolate with zingy coconut lime and sea salt in the finish.

Drinking tip: If you want to be entertained

dailuaine-11yo-smws-41-82-70cl

Bought – Whisky Broker, 25th October 2013

Ratings:
86.06/100 – Whiskybase (average from 18 member votes)

In my quest to find more interesting and obscure malt whisky, I recently stumbled across the Whisky Broker, a relative newcomer as an independent bottler. Although he’s almost a one-man band, I had nothing to fear about the level of service I was going to get. Initially I was a bit concerned when I discovered the last post on his website’s guest book was from 2011 but when I looked at his Facebook page I knew he was still very active in the realms of whisky. What also convinced me to give the Whisky Broker a go was Ralfy’s review in June 2013 of a bottle of Strathmill bought from said supplier (that review here). The bottles I ordered arrived within 5 days, well wrapped and in perfect condition.

As Ralfy says, you get plenty of information about the whisky you buy from the Whisky Broker. Here are the details supplied about this Dailuaine 20yo:

This Speyside whisky, distilled on 17th March 1992 at Dailuaine Distillery has been matured in an American Bourbon barrel for over 20 years. The whisky has not been chill filtered, nor has any colouring been added.

This whisky has been lightly filtered to remove large particles of wood sediment from the cask, but may still contain small traces, which are visible only when bottle is left standing for a period of time. Details: