Dailuaine 8 Years Old 2005 Hepburn’s Choice (Langside Distillers)

The bottler Langside Distillers bottled this Dailuaine, an 8 year old, distilled in 2005, bottled at 46%, one of 393 bottles. Dailuaine, founded in 1852, gave Scotch its first pagoda roofed kiln. It sits near Aberlour, in the heart of Speyside by the River Spey.

The spirit was run through the distillery's big copper stills, building the heavy Dailuaine style. An Oloroso hogshead lent fig, raisin and a savoury, nutty depth, the heavy spirit soaking it up. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over a robust, meaty malt. The big stills give a heavy spirit that takes a long, sherried maturation in its stride. Most Dailuaine goes quietly into blends, a robust filler kept in part as single malt. Years in oak round the spirit, the fruit deepening to dried fruit and a savoury spice. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and fruit over a rich malt.

At 46% it is smooth and honeyed. Malt, dried fruit and a rich spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dried fruit and a malty depth give it weight. The close is long, fruit over a rich malt. This is Dailuaine, a backbone of the great blends.