This, to me, is the highlight of the flight of drams from Scotland Grindlay’s Selection.
Photo Credit: wikimedia.org
Dailuaine is one of Diageo’s very classic Speyside distilleries, with some 98% of it’s output going into the Johnnie Walker blends, and it creates different charactered whisky according to what blenders think they’ll need down the road. The distillery can make a Clynelish like waxy whisky, a sulfury full bodied Mortlachy style and a grassy or nutty new make. It would seem that 1996 was a grenn/grassy year, as this seems the be the base freshness so clearly in the character of this dram from Grindlay’s 🙂
Photo Credit: scotlandgrindlay.com
Grindlay’s Selection, Dailuaine 19 Year Old, Distilled 17/9/1996, Cask 110621, Yield 236 Bottles (57% ABV, NCF, NC)
Appearance: Golden, the whisky looks pretty viscous with very slow legs peeling off a rather sturdy necklace.
Nose: very clean and fresh honey and lemon. Below that freshness is an almost old layer of Oak. Allow to rest, the nose turns more and more lemony. A drop of water revives the fresh honey but the nose is definitely congruent with a two decade old whisky.
Palate: A sweet wave washes over the tongue turning into spice and fizzy fresh lemon towards the back of the tongue and gullet. A drop of water highlights the spice bringing it to the forefront, also highlighting a clean note of honey right after the spice.
Linger: a rather gentle pepper together with dryness in the mouth and a little bit of a citrusy spice in the gullet and the inner cheeks tingle, but I’m not sure if it’s the 57% ABV or the whisky itself. With a drop of water, the linger is spicier and longer. The linger stays for a very long time, with a tingle on the inner cheeks and a sweet honey note on the tongue, with hints of spice.
Conclusion
This Dailuaine is a beautiful expression with a lot going on and definitely the type of whisky you’d expect from an older single cask. This one is definitely my favorite of the flight.