Dailuaine 27 Years Old 1983 Cask #DL 5809 (Douglas Laing)

The Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing bottled this Dailuaine, a 27 year old, distilled in 1983, from cask DL 5809, bottled at 50%, one of 274 bottles. Dailuaine is the rich, malty Speyside single malt that helped build the Johnnie Walker blends. It had its own railway siding and a little locomotive, Dailuaine No.1, known as the Puggy.

The spirit was run through the distillery's big copper stills, for a rich, meaty make that suits sherry wood. First fill bourbon gave a fuller vanilla over the robust spirit. Through the evaporative decades the spirit concentrates, esters folding into dried fruit, leather and a warm spice. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and fruit over a rich malt. Long ageing turns the fresh fruit towards dried fruit, fig, leather and a warm spice. Dailuaine's heavy, malty make is prized by blenders for the body it gives.

At 50%, undiluted, it is deep and fruity. Apple, dried fruit and a meaty edge, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is full and rich, the fruit lifted by a meaty malt. The finish is deep, rich and savoury. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real depth.