Daftmill 2010/2023 'Winter Release' (46%, OB, 6550 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: very Daftmill! Which is to say cut grasses, yellow flowers, yellow plums, citrus curds and jellies and some sharper touches of crushed gooseberry and nettle. Hyper-summery! The kind of dram that you could put an ice cube in, dare I say! Mouth: sweet and extremely easy, on yellow and green fruits, touches of custard, dessert wines, chamomile tea and a little putty and linseed oil. Still this overwhelming feeling of sunshine and grassy, summery vibes. And I swear it's not because it is presently very hot outside while I'm writing these notes. Finish: medium, still sweet but starting to involve some slightly drier suggestions of pressed flowers and their pollens and more fruit teas. Comments: perhaps on the simpler side, but when everything is this easy and pleasurable that's really an asset. A Winter Daftmill that's perfect for summer - go figure!
SGP: 641 - 87 points.

Daftmill 2012/2022 (57.7%, OB for 'The Drambusters', cask #086, PX Sherry hogshead, 341 bottles)
Colour: pale bronze. Nose: it's not a sticky or overly cloying PX profile, rather this is on sultana jam, creme de cassis, banana bread and walnut oil. Also some very nice background notes of rancio and plum wine. In time there's one or two wee bacon frazzles as well. With water: slightly peppery now and leaner, with more focus towards game meats and leafy tobacco notes. Mouth: up front notes of camphor, hazelnut puree, cocoa and fruity black coffee, also some sweeter notes of dark fruits stewed in Armagnac and a little flower honey. With water: excellent development with some lovely herbal complexity - tarragon and fennel seed - with more bitter chocolate, coffee and black pepper warmth. Still some classical sultanas and walnuts too. Finish: long, warming and gingery with wood spices, treacle, brown bread and more impressions of walnuts and stewed dark fruits. Comments: Daftmill continue to have very impressive sherry casks, even if the results don't always feel as immediately 'Daftmilly' as the bourbons. This one really sings with water - or should that be swims?
SGP: 561 - 88 points.

Daftmill 2011/2022 (60.3%, OB for Sweden, cask #100, 1st fill oloroso sherry butt, 646 bottles)
Colour: pale amber. Nose: a drier and more earthy and mulchy profile of sherry, which makes sense. More on wet leaves, forest mulch, bitter chocolate and walnut oil. Some fruit scented pipe tobacco and notes of dried strawberry too. With water: goes further towards this earthier and more organic profile, with impressions of earthy dunnage and old potting sheds. Unlit cigars, dried sultanas and hints of sandalwood. Mouth: sweeter but still very rich, earthy, bready and nicely spicy. Just these additional background notes of fruit syrups and crystallised fruits as well, which adds a nice feeling of complexity. With water: veers more towards sweeter and fruitier notes now, along with walnut wine, clove, blackjack chews and liquorice. A rather superb syrupy texture as well. Finish: long, on liquorice, treacle, bitter dark coffee, cloves and brown bread with a meagrest scraping of Nutella! Comments: I generally prefer these ex-oloroso casks, but I find it hard to pick between these two to be honest, I love the way this one veers about with water. As such: same score.
SGP: 461 - 88 points.

Daftmill 2011/2022 (60.4%, OB for Milano Whisky Festival, cask #095, 1st fill oloroso sherry butt, 667 bottles)
Colour: pale amber. Nose: very similar to the Sweden cask, only here perhaps a tad more sticky and giving a feeling of more overt sweetness with these slightly more concentrated dark fruits in syrup, also walnut liqueur, strawberry wine and sweetened black coffee. With water: becomes even more aromatic with lemon oil, bergamot, thyme and things like brown bread and aniseed. Mouth: indeed, sweeter in profile and diverging a little more with notes of chocolate sauce, walnut liqueur, herbal cough syrup and sweet black liquorice. Also some tiny notes of mint tea and clove oil. With water: beautifully syrupy, herbal, leafy and earthy with aged dessert wines, camphor, fir resin, treacle and marzipan. Finish: long, nicely sweet and thick, with sultanas, plum jam, more dessert wine notes and more walnut oils. Comments: this one started out along the same rails but went off in its own extremely charming direction. A really excellent sherry casked Daftmill, is all I can really say.
SGP: 651 - 89 points.

Daftmill 2010/2022 (59.2%, OB for Berry Brothers, cask #013, 1st fill bourbon barrel, 227 bottles)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: a hot toddy! Bags of lemon and honey, throat lozenges, nectarines, crushed nettle and some herbal / medical suggestions such as wintergreen and eucalyptus. I would say there's a level of complexity with these bourbon ones that the sherry ones sometimes miss. With water: even more 'Daftmillness' with cut grass and nettles, along with pithy citrus rinds, white flowers and some elegant background notes of young sauternes. Mouth: gorgeous! Pure citrons, waxes, flower honey, touches shilling ales, herbal teas, dried mango and papaya. Feels older than 12 years and showing some wonderfully vibrant citrus fruit notes. With water: superbly syrupy and mature still, but with a lovely natural sweetness that still manages to involve a lot of citrus and dried exotic fruits - tropical fruit teas and dried herbs! Finish: good length, with more sweet lemony vibes now - lemon curd - and more notes of sweetened herbal teas and linseed oil. Comments: this one seems to get this balance of sweetness, fruitiness, grassy notes and dryness just perfect. Hugely pleasurable stuff!
SGP: 641 - 89 points.

Daftmill 2010/2022 (60.1%, OB for Japan, cask #090, 1st fill bourbon barrel)
Colour: bright straw. Nose: a little leaner and drier, on shoe polish, face cream, white flowers full of pollens and also touches of canvass and dried flowers. Perhaps a slightly more austere style of Daftmill? With water: flower stems, vase water and toasted fennel seeds along with hints of lemongrass and turmeric. Mouth: a notch sweeter, but still a more even profile that involves richer cereal and malt extract notes, more beers, slightly bitter hops and pithy citrus rinds. A bigger and once again more austere take on Daftmill. With water: still this more austere profile, but I like these drier, earthier tones of cigarette papers, turmeric and dried flowers along with those still present beer notes. A feeling of weight and richness. Finish: medium in length and rather green, on more cereals, a touch sappy and with more of these turmeric, face cream and putty notes. Comments: not as convinced by this one, it's a more austere take on Daftmill than we are used to.
SGP: 451 - 85 points.

Daftmill 2009/2022 (58.8%, OB for Poland, cask #030, 1st fill bourbon barrel, 211 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: a softer and more gentle example, on sandalwood, gentle green fruitiness such as green apple and gooseberry, then touches of new shoe leather and sun cream as well. Elegant, gentle and very 'lowland' conceptually. With water: dilution seems to unlock some richer components such as maltier and more cereal bones, sweet ales, heather honey and muddled green herbs also all get a look in. Mouth: lovely sweetness, full of yellow fruits, custard made with sweet wines, lemon jelly, hibiscus flower and hints of mint and eucalyptus. Delicate but complex. With water: same feeling of elevated richness once water is added, sweetened olive oil, clove rock, malt syrup, shoe polish and heather ales with a big slug of sweet mead. Finish: medium and on dried flowers, honey, mineral oil and slightly buttery cereals. Comments: starts out delicate and gentle, but seems to become bigger and juicier with water as it goes along. Another excellent one.
SGP: 561 - 88 points.

Daftmill 2009/2022 (60.2%, OB for UK, cask #026, 1st fill oloroso sherry butt, 630 bottles)
Colour: pale amber. Nose: obvious dark fruits up front, all full of prunes, dates and fig jam with some sultanas and also a lovely gamey, earthy, slightly rancio touch as well. I really like that Daftmill's sherry casks never spill over into excess. With water: even more on leather, dried dark fruits, game salami, treacle and rancio. Mouth: still on all these lovely sticky dark fruits, but balanced by those gamey notes and meatier things like venison sausage and cranberry gravy. Also caramelised brown sugar and delicately salted liquorice. With water: the wood feels a little more overtly now, but there's still many lovely notes of salted almonds, salty liquorice, toasted walnuts and game meats. Finish: long, still slightly salty, gamey and earthy with a nicely drying quality. Comments: top notch sherry cask once again. I love the feeling of salty old oloroso in this one.
SGP: 471 - 89 points.

I feel like Daftmill might be becoming one of those distilleries that has a very clear 'bourbon profile' and a 'sherry profile', that both manage to be excellent but quite distinct from each other. Not unlike Glendronach used to be. Anyway, an excellent and rather illuminating wee session!