Review by: dustbunna

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Distillery: Dailuaine.

Bottler: Cadenhead’s.

Region: Speyside.

ABV: 46%.

Age: 14 years. Distilled in 2008. Bottled in 2023.

Cask type: Full maturation in a first-fill Oloroso sherry cask.

Price: Seem to recall £15-20 for 200mL, though I’ve lost the receipt.

Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Bottle open across approx. 3 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.

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Nose: classic Oloroso, all on baking spices and red fruits, cooked jammy blueberries and blackberries, some gunpowder, broken twigs, chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Palate: medium body ~ more baking spices and red fruits, some oak spice, wood polish, vanilla, pepper, orange zest, oak comes forward a bit.

Finish: medium length ~ more oak spice, more blueberries, brown sugar.

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Conclusion: Delicious, although I think it’d be impossible for me to identify any distillery within a cask this active, let alone Dailuaine— and Dailuaine is not exactly uncharacterful spirit, so that’s quite a feat. That said, the Oloroso cask here was of excellent quality, I would guess probably American oak given the sweeter notes. It also punches above its 46% strength, with good saturation of flavors. The blackberry/blueberry pie filling on the nose is especially nice (though I wish it followed through on the palate more than it does.)

For kicks, from my archive I poured a bit of GlenDronach 18yr, which was also fully matured in Oloroso, alongside this Dailuaine. There’s not much daylight between them as far as notes go— though perhaps unsurprisingly, the GlenDronach is a richer and deeper experience from the added age.

Final Score: 84.

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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.