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.