Dalwhinnie 15 Year

Honey, spice, and a hint of smoke on the nose. Smooth honey with some spice on the palate. A nice honey and oak finish with a bit of smoke at the end.

I get a lot of emails from Total Wine for their "whiskey of the month" promotions and most of it is Spirits Direct swill that the sales staff are paid a spiff to sell. And most of the time, they aren't great. But imagine my delight when this month's email hit and featured a whisky from a distillery I've heard of but not yet tried? Enter The Dalwhinnie 15 year... The nose opens extremely sweet and gentle. Reminds me of Aberfeldy sans fruit. Honey and toffee are super sweet and swirled with some deeper scents like peaches and custard. The nose ends with a quick and gentle hit of peat smoke. A gentle and cool ( lacking alcohol burn ) taste brings honey and malty sugary cereal with some zingy citrus. As that taste progresses, it does become a bit drier with some tannic black tea and finally just a hint of the peat smoke that was almost undetectable on the nose. The finish is medium length and moderately oily. Some nuts and malty cereal carries through with just a tiny bit of baking spice. This whisky is about all things sweet but very faint hints here and there of complexity. You know what? I rather like it and for sub $100/Bottle + this bottle always being readily available, I think it makes a fine dessert dram.