Dailuaine 1995 12 Year Connoisseurs Choice (Gordon & MacPhail)

Day 2 of temporary bachelorhood. Wife is visiting some friends. Sports, music, beef, whisky and wine sums up the weekend (throw is some work and house and auto maintenance too). Another sample for a day long ago from @LeeEvolved from our now defunct SDT (will there be an SDT2?) Taking it in on the nose, apples, apricots, honey are the forward notes. Some Concord grapes (Welch’s Jam) with a dash of cinnamon arrive as the dram begins to open. It is all encased in vanilla and toasted marshmallow sweetness. There is maltiness that weaves about. Quite a nose. The palate accepts a light and sugary whisky. White sugar, vanilla and honey in a thin, lightweight body. The sugary sweetness slowly turns spicy with white pepper and cinnamon (partially Red Hots, partially ground spice). A gentle earthiness forms towards the fade. What remains on the the palate for a fair length is drying oak tannins, lemon oil and ginger root. If I could embody the nose into a palatable entity, this would be a semi-solid dram. The thinness of the body and the briefness of the palate prevents this from being prevents it from being so. Sweet, dry and spicy describes this in three little words. [Tasted: 10/7/18][84/100]

You really have to dig deep on this one. The nose is very subtle with white grapes, pears, ginger, vanilla, and gumdrops. The palate brings caramel, mocha, powdered sugar, corn syrup, and salted pretzels. The finish is a little too short and dry for my taste though. Might not be a jaw dropper, but the solid palate brings it to a 3.25. The theme of this dram is "Dig for Fire" by The Pixies. Thanks so much for the sample Mr. @LeeEvolved.

Another one down in our SDT tour, round 6 out of 7 ( one more round, then a deep cleansing involving green tea and milk thistle). This one provided courtesy of @LeeEvolved. Nothing unique in this one...just some honey and hay. For $70, why would anyone buy this when it’s just a bit of mild honey and hay? You can get better flavors out of a Balvenie 12 for a bit less. This should not exist as a single malt. Acknowledge and move on.

Stop number 86 on the SDT is Dailuaine. Another relatively unknown Speyside distillery brought to light thanks to @LeeEvolved and the SDT group. As precious few official bottles are available, this sample is from a 12 year old Gordon and MacPhail independent bottle. Distilled in 1995, bottled at 43% ABV and appears to be natural color of pale straw. Because it’s 43% I have a feeling it is chill filtered. The nose has plenty of honey, hay and grass. Even at 43% it has a nip of alcohol when first nosed. Light fruits, apricots, green grapes, oranges, plums and very light raisins. Faint cinnamon and allspice. A light earthiness and just the barest hint of smoke. Weak oak, ex bourbon probably, malty and a sort of brown sugar sweetness. Some vanilla and coconut and a bit of a mineral note. Overall very light. The palate starts with some pepper, earthy and what could be a very light peat. Orchard and tropical fruits, apricots, mangos, oranges and raisins. Astringent oak, a slight metallic note and some bitter almonds. A medium light bodied mouthfeel, lightly oily and dry. The finish is medium long, slightly bitter oak, earthy and fruity, all very light. On a side note, I took the last 1/2oz I had and dropped in some water and a small ice cube. I let it sit and checked for any scotch mist. None to be found, further evidence that it is chill filtered. While this is not what I would call a bad scotch, it’s certainly not a good one either at $78 it’s quite expensive for a 12 year old Speysider with light generic flavors. Thanks for the sample Lee, but it’s time to move on. 3 stars Cheers

This is my first sample offering for our sixth round of distillery group trading. This comes from the Speyside distillery: Dailuaine (pronounced “dal-you-aine). It translates as “green valley” in Gaelic. This is from independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail (as part of the Connoisseurs Choice line) and is 12 years old. It’s bottled at 43% ABV and was distilled in 1995. The distillery began operations in 1852 and was founded by a local farmer and banker in the town of Aberlour. In the late 1890’s it merged with Talisker before being sold to a group consisting of James Dewar, John Walker and James Buchanan & sons. It is currently owned by United Distillers and only 2% of its 3.3 million liters produced each year goes towards single malts. The rest goes into Johnnie Walker blends. This bottle only states it was aged in oak casks. No other info was found. Based on the flavor profile, I’d say it was ex-bourbon casks. It’s a champagne gold in the taster with thick oily legs. The nose is primarily faint oak, vanilla and some light florals. After a little time I detected some raisin and simple sugar notes. No heat at all. The palate followed the nose closely with florals, malted barley, vanilla and oak. There’s an oily mouth coat and no harshness, even for its youth. It’s pleasant enough. The finish is medium length and slowly drying. Overall, it’s a run of the mill Speysider with bourbon tendencies. A little more heat would’ve probably ruined it, but at the same time there’s nothing overly exciting about it. You don’t typically see bottles of this anywhere, so there’s a bit of rarity to it I suppose. Just not enough to warrant searching it out or paying more than $50 for it. I payed $78 just so we could get a sample for this distillery for our group’s goal of trying a single malt from every active distillery in Scotland. I can’t say I recommend chasing a bottle from these guys- let Johnnie Walker have them. 3 stars. Cheers.