Dailuaine, Time to Catch Up


November 4, 2025

Dailuaine: Time to Catch Up

Dailuaine

(Geograph + AI)

Dailuaine has quietly become one of the most commonly seen names among independent bottlers these days. And I have to admit, WF has let this one slip a little, as we have with quite a few others, to be fair: Glenburgie, Ledaig, Bunnahabhain, Ardmore, Loch Lomond, Malt Mill, Ben Nevis… and more besides (spot the odd one out!). So, today we’re setting out to start thinning the Dailuaine stocks, not least because we’ve got the new Special Release on hand, which has already been receiving high praise. We’ll be taking a fairly spontaneous approach to this little session, just to keep things lively, and hopefully a bit of fun too.

Dailuaine-Glenlivet 12 yo 2013/2025 (46%, Cadenhead, Original Collection, bourbon hogsheads)

This baby was bottled quite recently… Colour: white wine. Nose: vanilla fudge lightly scented with aniseed, which I find rather charming, then touches of ladies’ moisturiser and just half a glass of pear juice. The whole affair is fresh and most delightful. Mouth: very good, youthful, a little rustic but in a lovely way, on small apples and wild plums, a touch of lemon, and a return of the aniseed and liquorice, with a slight sensation of pastis (insert La Marseillaise here). Finish: fairly long, slightly saline, with more apples and stewed pears. Comments: I’m very fond of this wee malt, not expensive at all, and it offers plenty of character.
SGP:551 - 85 points.

Dailuaine 10 yo (48.3%, James Eadie, oloroso sherry hogshead, 2024)

Colour: full gold. Nose: loads of shoe polish! Then a bag of old walnuts and a touch of dry-sweet pipe tobacco. Lovely sherry influence, you’re gently whisked away to the magic triangle. Mouth: nicely done, a fine effort, the polish has turned into smoked chocolate or something along those lines. Then some dark rye bread baked in a wood-fired oven, with a dusting of cinnamon. Finish: fairly long, on lovely bitter chocolate notes, bitter orange, and once again a salty touch, which is quite surprising. Is Dailuaine supposed to be saline? Comments: yet another very nice young dram from Andalusia. I mean from Speyside.
SGP:461 - 85 points.

Dailuaine 2011/2024 (59%, The Whisky Jury, first fill bourbon, cask #800376, 204 bottles)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: quite simply a banana cake smothered in three litres of custard. Or let’s say five. With water: an enormous vanilla sponge. Mouth (neat): livelier, on small green fruits and yellow citrus, plenty of fresh herbs and Japanese green tea in the matcha style, then white pepper. On the palate it’s as taut as a bowstring, almost alarming. With water: not to worry, it retains that greasy tension, but everything has relaxed. Lovely bitter herbs, veering towards Fernet Branca or Italian amari. Finish: long, even greener, though here that’s a virtue. Comments: I reckon adding 5cl of this to a pint of beer would be a brilliant idea. That’d be one hell of a pint.
SGP:461 - 86 points.

Dailuaine 21 yo ‘Marbled Treasures’ (54.3%, OB, Special Releases 2025, fully matured in Spanish ex-sherry, 2025)

Colour: amber honey. Nose: there’s a very slight cosmetic note, for well-groomed ladies, and a bit of polish, but the sherry rises quickly, in the form of a full basket of all sorts of raisins, with tiny touches of dry-cured ham in the background—Spanish, naturally. With water: hints of old-school orange liqueurs genuinely built on proper Cognac. Mouth (neat): excellent, on rum and raisin, then orange liqueur. Delightfully straightforward. With water: still rather simple, though you may now add some proper Central European Christmas biscuits. We’re already looking forward to them, even if we’ll put on five kilos in two weeks. As always, blame the booze, it’s always the booze’s fault. Finish: fairly long, with mulled wine-style spices appearing, or even a touch of Conditum Paradoxum. ChatGPT is supposed to be your friend – not too sure about that. Chocolate. Comments: excellent and very ‘Christmas’. How convenient.
SGP:641 - 89 points.

Dailuaine 8 yo 2016/2024 (57.9%, Watashi Whisky, bourbon, cask #3010248, 95 bottles)

Back to Taiwan, always a pleasure. Colour: white wine. Nose: ultra-clean, on fresh barley, ripe apples and acacia honey. Again, it’s very simple, but the molecules are perfectly in place. With water: add some milk chocolate, the double cream sort from Lindt. Mouth (neat): I love this simplicity, on green apples, lemons, pepper and fresh barley, then a light honeyed touch. Nice fatness. With water: bitter and earthy herbs come in, bringing lovely tension. Finish: long, flawless. Comments: for such a young beast, I think this is simply excellent, almost going toe to toe with the rather splendid Special Release.
SGP:551 - 88 points.

Dailuaine 12 yo 2011/2024 ‘Ashish Basnet’ (53.1%, The Whisky Exchange, Whisky Show 2024)

Hard to believe the 2025 Whisky Show has already passed and we hadn’t yet tasted this 2024 baby. I feel as guilty as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. Colour: straw. Nose: it’s basically an IPA, just redistilled. The citrus and hops are rather assertive. With water: not much development, it folds back a little, onto apples. Mouth (neat): that fatty Dailuaine texture, yet with mint and sorrel, then cider apples, though not very expressive. The hops are still there too. With water: there it is, we’ve got it, it’s really lovely now, a little austere but full of the small fruits from an old orchard in a sleepy village out in the countryside. The kind of ageing fruit trees no one’s had the heart to replace. You know the sort... Finish: fairly long and well balanced, on apples and pears. Comments: there’s a slightly faded, poetic quality I really enjoy.
SGP:551 - 85 points.

Dailuaine 16 yo 2007/2024 (55.8%, Scyfion, Calvados cask finish, 150 bottles)

Delighted to be tasting another bottle from Ukraine, Slava Ukraini! If there’s one thing the Ukrainians have earned in recent years, it’s the immense respect and lasting admiration of truly democratic peoples. There you go… Oh, and we do rather like the Arc de Triomphe on the label… Colour: gold. Nose: the pairing of this very natural, fairly textured malt with what seems to be a fresh and fruity Calvados appears to work beautifully. Imagine yourself tucking into a tarte tatin that’s three-quarters apple and one-quarter quince, drizzled with malt whisky. Magnificent. With water: the Calvados becomes more prominent, but it’s a very fine one—fresh and full of spirit. Mouth (neat): the match still works a treat, here it’s more taut, slightly lemony, and with a kind of basaltic edge. Cider apples and light honeys, plus a fairly yeasty beer. With water: even prettier, with some mint and linden tea coming through. Finish: fairly long, with tiny herbal touches of thyme. Comments: deepest friendship to our Ukrainian mates.
SGP:551 - 87 points.

Dailuaine 12 yo (53.3%, ProtectUASea, 1st Fill Tennessee Whiskey, cask #300648, 69 bottles, 2024)

Still in Ukraine. Slava Ukraini! Presumably a stint in a Dickel cask… Colour: pale gold. Nose: we’re back to the polish we found previously, then some bruised apples, and it’s all simple and spot-on. With water: a bit of fresh wood comes out here. Mouth (neat): same high level as its cousin from Scyfion, though a touch more rustic, much like Tennessee itself (right). Citrus more present. With water: still close to the last one, just that bit more rough-hewn again. In short, it depends on which worked better for you, the Calvados or the Dickel. Please don’t ask me to pick sides… Finish: fairly long, more herbal and spicier. Comments: really good. I reckon people don’t think enough about Dailuaine… Or Ukraine, for that matter. And have you noticed the two names end with the same four letters?
SGP:561 - 87 points.

Dailuaine 13 yo 2011/2024 (53.5%, Cooper’s Choice, Port Wood finish, 300 bottles)

Colour: apricot/smoked salmon/very ripe mirabelle, which is always a bit scary, but let’s give it a go anyway… Nose: right then, here come notes of apricot, along with quince paste and cranberry. Let’s be cautious and add water straight away… With water: not bad at all. Cherry-stem herbal tea. Mouth (neat): well now, this is actually very good on the palate, you do feel the Port, but we do love old Port, and after all, they are red wines, but fortified ones. Gorgeous cherry tarts and vineyard peaches. Some bud notes coming through later, which are a touch less thrilling. With water: not bad, even if it edges a little toward strawberry jam, but there’s also pepper, and the pepper + strawberry combo is clearly part of humanity’s shared heritage (isn’t it?). Finish: not its best angle, leans more towards leafy and budding notes. Comments: inevitably a little chaotic, as always when red wine is involved, but we’ve landed on our feet here, it’s still very good.
SGP:651 - 84 points.

Dailuaine 11 yo 2012/2023 (58.8%, Watt Whisky, refill sherry butt, 552 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: nature in a glass, slightly oily, earthy, charmingly acrid, more on those little orchard fruits we mentioned earlier. With water: a few green walnuts from the sherry (presumably), still apples, and the tiniest hint of honeysuckle. Perhaps… Mouth (neat): far fruitier and even cheerful on the palate, still on cider apples and near-wild pears. With water: water works very well here, we’re back to death-by-IPA as hinted above, but it stays robust and a touch rustic. Strongly reminiscent of holly eau-de-vie, or even bison grass vodka. Finish: long, very herbal, austere like a Lada. But yes, it goes anywhere. Fun spices around clove and cumin on the aftertaste. Comments: straight from the freezer, then served with caviar or proper wild smoked salmon.
SGP:361 - 85 points.

Dailuaine 12 yo 2012/2025 (57.7%, Fadandel, 1st fill oloroso hogshead, cask #300650, 62 bottles)

We love micro-bottlings, they give us the feeling we’re tasting things almost no one else will ever get to try. Colour: gold. Nose: it smells of oil, almost deep-frying oil, and that’s a true Dailuaine marker. For me, it makes all these malts quite singular, though perhaps not for the broader public—that is, the thirsty Marxist masses (ahem). Paraffin oil and little green apples. With water: the return of posh lady cosmetics! And a few drops of Thai broth. Mouth (neat): it’s very good, rustic, grilled, and unlikely, with coffee and apple eau-de-vie. Apple eau-de-vie is usually of little interest, but there are (rare) exceptions, such as Gravenstein from Rochelt. With water: coffee, wax, small apples, tobacco, walnuts… The oloroso seems to be waking up a bit. About time, you might say. Finish: fairly long, though perhaps not sharply defined. Comments: another bottle we find terrific, though we feel like popping it straight into the freezer as well.
SGP:451 - 84 points.

Alright then, one last dram, we’ll be back with more rather mad Dailuaines very soon. Maybe even as soon as tomorrow… who knows?

Dailuaine 30 yo 1995/2025 (55.5%, Kanpaikai & The Antelope, refill hogshead, cask #803066, 143 bottles)

Will this baby knock the Special Release off its perch? It’s not out of the question, thirty years in refill is a magical combo that can bury all those improbable finishing escapades in one elegant swoop. Let’s find out right away… Colour: gold. Nose: forget it, honeys, pollens, baked fruits and old resiny woods strike immediately and make it clear who’s in charge. But that doesn’t mean it’ll all carry through to the palate… With water: old beeswax, old furniture, old libraries, old rectories. Amen. Mouth (neat): slightly fragile, with fruits giving way to camphor and very dry herbal teas, not to mention pronounced bitter almonds and a rather strong old furniture polish character. It feels right at the tipping point; so which way will it fall? (S., for heaven’s sake, this isn’t TikTok). With water: no, don’t add water, it literally pulls the whole thing apart. Finish: with just one drop of water, it’s delicate, very much on teas and herbal infusions, slightly drying but really lovely. Almond milk. Comments: that famous point of balance where everything can suddenly turn too fragile. Fascinating to taste. And love it.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Good, after twelve Dailuaines, see you soon.

Check the index of all Dailuaine we've tasted