Review by: dustbunna
Dailuaine has been a particular favorite of mine out of the array of core-range-less distilleries that provide quantity for blending– if you can find any, independent bottlings of their spirit can often be had without paying a massive premium. I enjoyed my last sherried Dailuaine enough to go ahead and pick up another cheap young’n with very similar specs, this time a first-fill sherry maturation (although what kind of sherry is not made public.) This bottle comes from the other branch of the Laing family, imported and bottled at cask strength for K&L Wines in California.
Distillery: Dailuaine.
Bottler: Hunter Laing.
Region: Speyside.
ABV: 56.7%. Cask strength.
Age: 12 years. Distilled in 2006. Bottled in 2018.
Cask type: First-fill sherry cask.
Price: $50 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 6 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: bright, red and yellow stone fruits, grassy, apple and peach skins, water brings out leather and a leafy vegetal side, fruit blossoms (again, apple and peach), reduced balsamic vinegar, spiced Christmas oranges begin to creep in, vanilla cake.
Palate: medium body ~ astringent on arrival, more grassiness, a bit hot at full strength, more stone fruits (peach, plum), white pepper, water increases the pepperiness and oak comes forward, with time it settles on orange liqueur and dry leaves.
Finish: long ~ baking spices here with lingering oak, dry leaves, forest decay, not-quite-ripe peaches, a bit more astringent and peppery on the tail end.
Conclusion: This is a good one to be sipping on in autumn, super enjoyable although it loses a bit of complexity as it rounds off– I think the sweet spot was about mid-way through the bottle. I do wish I knew what kind of first-fill sherry they used for this– if it weren’t for having found many of these dry, astringent notes in sherried Dailuaine before, I would suspect a drier style than typical Oloroso. The pepperiness is always present, but never overwhelming, and works well with the more austere fruit/autumnal notes. Same score as the last K&L sherried Dailuaine I had in the cabinet, this one was engaging and fun. And at $50, there’s nothing to complain about.
Final Score: 82.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 