Tasting three Dufftowners

June 13, 2013

Tasting three Dufftowners

There are many distilleries in Dufftown. The active ones are Balvenie, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich and Mortlach. Other famous ones that are either silent or demolished were Pittyvaich and Convalmore, not to mention the legendary Parkmore. As for Kininvie, not too sure whether it's working or not these days. Anyway, let's have these three Dufftowners...

Singleton of Dufftown 12 yo (40%, OB, +/-2012)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: shy, with a little cardboard and teabags (say English breakfast), then quite some hay and a little roasted malt. Wakes up a bit after a few minutes, with now orange peel and just wee whiffs of wood smoke. Very light in any case, so far. After fifteen minutes: much more vanilla fudge and warm butter. Mouth: fudge, caramel, café latte, cappuccino, fudge, caramel, café latte, cappuccino, fudge, caramel, café latte, cappuccino, fudge, caramel, café latte, cappuccino... Was that clear enough? Finish: a little short, on... guess what? Comments: a very decent all-rounder but I think the Singleton of Glen Ord is much more to my liking. SGP:441 - 75 points.

Images of Dufftown 1988/2013 'Clock Tower' (53.2%, Malts of Scotland, 254 bottles)

What could this be? The two Dufftown distilleries that are never, or very rarely bottled by indies are William Grant's Glenfiddich and Balvenie, so it may be one of those. Or Kinninvie? Who knows... Colour: straw. Nose: very unusual, with big grassy notes and then soot and shoe polish. Cider apples, green grapes, bicycle inner tubes, then quite some porridge sprinkled with lemon juice. Sharp yet kind of locked. With water: fresher and curiously waxier. Fresh barley, overripe apples... Mouth (neat): some pears, both fresh/ripe and as drops, as well as pear jam... And pears sometimes suggest G... Or not. Quite some liquorice too, a little vanilla, sweet barley... It's all firm and quite 'nervous'. With water: pear cake! Finish: medium, fresh, with pears, plums, herbal tea (chamomile) and notes of sponge cake. Comments: I wouldn't swear it's 'G', but this baby's very pleasantly pearish. Now, there are plums too... SGP:541 - 84 points.

Mortlach 17 yo 1995/2012 (56.4%, The Whisky Cask, hogshead)

I've got a lot of Mortlach yet to taste, we'll try do a very large Mortlach verticale one of these days. Colour: gold. Nose: once again it's a rather grassy one, or is it as much locked as the 'Images'? Freshly broken branches, herbs, maybe mint, apple peelings, maybe one or two fresh white asparagus... With water: more sweet oak, with a bourbony side now. Vanilla and maple syrup galore, all that being pretty nice. Also tobacco and honey arising. Mouth (neat): more body and a bigger oiliness than in the 'Images'. More grass too, even more liquorice, maybe touches of pineapple... With water: good, firm, natural, sweet. I enjoy these hints of beeswax. Quite some apple juice too, a little mint... Finish: of medium length, more barley-ish. Sweet barley that is. A lot of apple juice in the aftertaste. Comments: I quite love this one. SGP:551 - 86 points.