Fable Chapter Three - Dailuaine 11 Year Old 2010

Chapter One introduced the The Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay with the ‘Clanyard town’ themed release of Cool Ila. Chapter Two focuses on the Folk of Clanyard with a Linkwood 12. Chapter Three is all about the Moon. “On stormy nights, when the Moon was nearly drowned, eerie screams seemed to come from below them.”. Chapter Three has seen 22 releases going back to distillate produced in 2008 through to 2012. All are Dailuaine distillates matured in ex-bourbon refill hogsheads and released as single cask expressions at cask strength. The different releases range from 62-308 bottles each and have different global markets. This afternoon I am drinking the 3rd release (cask number 308827) distilled 14/07/2010 and aged 11 years. 275 bottles were filled at 59.4% on 27/07/2021 and released to the Australian, Danish, German, and UK markets. N: Light but punchy. Quite acidic apple, red berries, barley sweetness. Light spice and grilled pineapple rings. P: Medium bodied with a grainy cream texture. Vanilla toast and thick oak char. There is a slight alcohol prickle that comes across as harsh black pepper. A lighter refreshing grass and floral character struggles to take hold against the very dominant malt and oak spice. F: Medium-short. Honeyed apple, shortbread biscuit, a little tannic vanilla. A drop of water adds a slight waxiness to the nose and palate. The palate develops a slight coconut and perhaps a metallic twang. The finish softens a tiny bit to allow some pleasant fragrant pepper out from the tannic vanillin. Reading the Fable website informs me that the Dailuaine Distillery derives from the Scottish Gaelic ‘An dail uaine’ meaning ‘green valley’. This distilleries whiskies are rarely seen and sought after when they are available. Owners Diageo use the malt from the distillery in blends, mainly Johnnie Walker. Only the best casks make it out to be independently bottled. Available usually at cask strength as a vintage or aged statement. So, that holds up, this is an age statement cask strength of limited release. But, it also lacks significantly across the board to me. The nose is the most interesting part of the pour, theres some nice depth to the fruits but I think the acidity is a little too harsh. It then goes downhill from there. The palate is aggressive and doesn’t really get going with the seemingly exciting aspects hidden away under the oak. I think that three chapters into Fable I am clear on the trajectory, and for the third time I’ll say: this is style over substance and certainly doesn’t deliver on the cost. Distiller whisky taste: #188 Instead of a third telling of the Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay, I have busted out a pretty special rock. It’s literally the moon. Well, a piece of it. This is a lunar meteorite, a piece of the Moons surface ejected when it was hit by a meteorite itself. This fragment is from lunar meteorite NWA11273, one of ~306 known lunar meteorites. This fragment is a ‘feldspathic regolith breccia’; a solidified aggregate of clastic debris generated on the moons surface due to meteorite bombardment. Its probably that this rock originated in the lunar highlands 3.9-4 billion years ago shortly after the Moon was born from our own planet; a product of a giant collision itself. So: Earth hit by planet, forms moon > moon hit by meteorites, forms breccia > breccia hit by meteorite, forms meteorite > brecciated meteorite hits Earth > man drinks Moon themed whisky. Fable running scores: Chapter 1 - Caol Ila 10, 2010: 2.5/5 Chapter 2 - Linkwood 12, 2010: 2.5/5 Chapter 3 - Dailuaine 11, 2010: 2.75/5