Dailuaine 7 Years Old 2008 Cask #DL 10960 (Provenance)

The Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing bottled this Dailuaine, a 7 year old, distilled in 2008, from cask DL 10960, bottled at 46%. Dailuaine is a Diageo Speyside distillery, its robust malt the backbone of many a blend. In 1889 it became the first distillery to use the pagoda roof, the Doig Ventilator designed by Charles Doig.

It was worked through the big stills for a meaty, malty spirit, building the heavy Dailuaine style. A sherry cask wrapped the rich spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth, a fine match for the heavy malt. At an extractive age eugenol lends a clove note and lactones a coconut, the spirit rich, malty and full. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the meaty malt. It passed to DCL and Scottish Malt Distillers in the 1920s and was later modernised. Its rich, robust malt has long been a backbone of the Johnnie Walker blends.

At 46% it is clean and soft. Orchard fruit, malt and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit, malt and a savoury spice fill the middle. The finish is long, rich and savoury. This is a rich, malty Speyside single malt.