Wines, beer, bourbon and a little Dailuaine


June 26, 2023

Wines, beer, bourbon and a little Dailuaine

So sports, almost. Dailuaine's not the easiest drop, is it, so this will be like reading Kierkegaard, I suppose… On wine!

Dailuaine Distillery (Ann Harrison, geography.ork.uk)

Dailuaine 11 yo 2010 (48%, Thompson Bros. for Black Isle Brewery, 10 months Black Isle Imperial Stout Cask, 261 bottles)

Holy smokes, I don't even exactly know what an Imperial Stout is. I believe the last proper stout I've had was a Mackeson's, in 1980. Colour: white wine, so no blackness this far. Nose: dry earth, roasted grains and vegetables, suet, crude cocoa, burnt eggplants, morels perhaps, scoria, pot ale… Mouth (neat): extraordinarily burnt, sour, gherkiny, dirty, earthy… Add a few drops of water and it'll become basaltic, smoky, ashy and very sooty. Finish: there, more raw cocoa and coffee, cracked pepper, and touches of black garlic. I totally adore black garlic, but maybe not in my whisky… Comments: pretty experimental (and in experimental, there's 'mental'). As if Dailuaine wasn't whacky enough as such, ha. Seriously, great fun.
SGP:472 - 85 points.

Dailuaine 18 yo 2002/2021 (57.4%, Quaich Bar Singapore, Signature Reserve, hogshead)

The great Frank McHardy, of Springbank fame, was behind this lovely series. Colour: white wine. Nose: very dry. Fern, eggplants, artichoke, burnt malt, old walnuts, hardboiled eggs, soy sauce… With water: mud, plaster, washing powder, new sweater, new sneakers, paraffin, shampoo… I'm not surprised some luminary who used to be behind Springbank would have chosen this. Mouth (neat): excellent chocolaty malt, dry sour vegetables, burnt vegetables, extreme coffee, fried basil and parsley leaves, oyster sauce, asparagus… This sure isn't Glenmorangie, neither is it Glenkinchie. With water: wonderful recovery, gentler cakes, pistachios, walnuts, bitter citrus, Campari (didn't we say no brand names?) Finish: long, appropriately sulphury, mineral and petroly. Lemons to the rescue in the aftertaste. Comments: rather intellectual whisky, probably rather for aesthetes, but great fun too. Well done, Frank!
SGP:462 - 87 points.

Dailuaine 10 yo 2010/2021 (55.8%, The Collaboration, viognier barriques finish, cask #310224, 277 bottles)

Viognier is the main white varietal in the northern part of the Rhône valley. Think Condrieu! It's usually extremely aromatic… Colour: white wine. Nose: pink grapefruits, sour lemon yoghurt, dough, tequila, fumes, porridge, carbon, honeysuckle… No logic whatsoever, but great fun nonetheless. With water: very dry porridge, damp oats, coal ashes… I'm not 100% sure I'm getting the viognier, rather raw wool, plaster, slate, baking soda… Mouth (neat): holy royal stovepipe! Bitter rubbers, leaves, stems, plus sweeter plums, bitterer spices, artichoke, green peppercorn… With water: better, with grapefruit and limoncello. Coriander. Finish: long, muddy, chalky, gristy and leafy. Grass and peppers… and no real viognier that I can detect. Comments: Dailuaine's insane anyway. Why not viognier then? Do not expect any orthodoxies within these 'creative' bottlings where good is bad is good is bad is good…
SGP:561 - 84 points.

Dailuaine 13 yo 2009/2022 (46.5%, House of MacCallum, bio Pomerol cask finish, cask #6015-17, 1010 bottles)

Great fun, some organic Pomerol finish! So merlot galore, I would suppose. Colour: light apricot. Nose: cherry stems and washing powder, peonies, bakers' yeast, kriek beer… Indeed this is totally improbable once more, but there is some fun to be had. A Nigerian afrobeat band from Lagos doing Mozart. Mouth: cherries, lime tea, rubber, tar? Rather Beethoven, in fact. Rather a lot of rubber and chlorophyl too. Finish: rather long, with some blood oranges and bitter peppers. That's good. Comments: mad trans-category stuff once more. It's true that should you do this thing, rather do it to Dailuaine as it's already mad malt in the first place.
SGP:651 - 83 points.

Mad. More madness please…

Dailuaine 25 yo 1997/2022 (48.8%, Whisky Sponge, refill hogsheads, 365 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: ah there, pure Dailuaine, that is to say mustard and paraffin plus capsicum and undergrowth. Moss, fern, mushrooms, tiny herbs, bear garlic, woodruff, pumpkin seed… Mouth: no more fooling around indeed, this is salty and malty and sulphury and herbal Speyside whisky, with mints, malt extracts, rocket leaves, bitter oranges and roasted chestnuts. Weren't those hoggies ex-oloroso or amontillado, Mr. Sponge? Finish: long, wonderful, rather nutty, with some fatty waxiness and more salty walnuts and roasted chestnuts. Comments: doing a good Caol Ila is easy but finding such a brilliant Dailuaine probably ain't a piece of cake. Almost sublime – and I say everyone needs a Dailuaine in his/her bar. Real enthusiasts do not always take the easiest slope.
SGP:562 - 89 points.

Dailuaine (44.5%, Murray McDavid, Craft Series, bourbon finish, Koval quarter cask, 2022)

The epitome of NAS-ness, we know about everything here, just not about the age/vintage. Colour: white wine. Nose: totally porridgey, with some grist, chalk, lager beer and asparagus (natural sulphur). Lemon peel. Mouth: paraffin, parsley, basil, chalk, oatcakes, ripe apples, oak shavings, clover honey, bananas. Fine. Finish: medium, chalky and gristy. Banana skins and tea tannins. Comments: like it more than I should, because of this very doughy profile. Would we have to thank Koval? Not too sure why and how all these ex-Koval casks found their ways to Europe.
SGP:451 - 82 points.

I think we're ready for a very last Dailuaine. Coz you can't have a dozen, can you… Let's make it an old one.

Dailuaine 31 yo 1989/2020 (49.8%, Thompson Bros., bourbon barrel, 117 bottles)

I agree I should have tried this one earlier. Colour: gold. Nose: pine bark and camphor, that's beautiful. Plus carbon, linoleum, pistachio syrup, pine nuts, orgeat syrup and root vegetables. Say we add wild aniseed-driven carrots and some crushed mint leaves. Beautiful herbal nose, fresh and complex. Mouth: excellently piney, a tad bitter, with capsicum and juniper, pine needles, absinth, aniseed, gentian and liquorice root. A little green pepper that would burn your tongue just a little bit. Old peppermint cordial. Finish: long and very piney. I say it takes a little water at this stage, and would then become rootier, with more liquorice too. Comments: muddy carrots glazed with honey and pine liqueur. How very Dailuaine indeed.
SGP:561 - 88 points.

Let's remember Dailuaine rather remains a 'dresser component' of many a big blend by Diageo. A fat dirty baby.

Check the index of all Dailuaine we've tasted so far