Dailuaine 13 Years Old 2008 (Hepburn’s Choice) (46%)

This Dailuaine was bottled by the independent Hunter Laing, a 13 year old, distilled in 2008, bottled at 46%, one of 141 bottles. Dailuaine is a rich, meaty Speyside single malt from the banks of the Spey near Aberlour. Most of its make goes to blending, with a Flora and Fauna sixteen year old the regular single malt.

It was drawn off three wash and three spirit stills, for the rich, full bodied make Dailuaine is known for. A bourbon barrel held it, vanilla and a soft spice over the malty spirit. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the rich, full bodied spirit growing rounder. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and fruit over a rich malt. The big stills give a heavy spirit that takes a long, sherried maturation in its stride. It passed to DCL and Scottish Malt Distillers in the 1920s and was later modernised. It sits near Aberlour, in the heart of Speyside by the River Spey.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow. Dried fruit, malt and a rich, savoury depth, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A baked fruit and a warm spice lift it. The close is long, fruit over a rich malt. This is the rich, full bodied Speyside malt of Dailuaine.