Dailuaine 9 Years Old 2014 Cask #03108 (Finn Thomson)

The bottler Finn Thomson bottled this Dailuaine, a 9 year old, distilled in 2014, from cask 03108, bottled at 58%, one of 311 bottles. Dailuaine, whose name is Gaelic for the green vale, is a heavy, full bodied Speysider. Its rich, robust malt has long been a backbone of the Johnnie Walker blends.

The spirit was run through the distillery's big copper stills, for the rich, full bodied make Dailuaine is known for. A Pedro Ximenez cask added raisin, date and a treacle sweetness. In these extractive early years the oak gives vanillin as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over a robust, meaty malt. Long ageing turns the fresh fruit towards dried fruit, fig, leather and a warm spice. Most of its make goes to blending, with a Flora and Fauna sixteen year old the regular single malt. Its big stills give a heavy, full bodied spirit that takes sherry wood especially well.

At its natural 58% it is concentrated. 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 the robust, sherried malt of Carron.