Dalwhinnie 12 Years Old Cask #Batch No. 2024/008

Dalwhinnie from the distillery, a 12 year old, cask Batch No. 2024/008, at 55.5%. Dalwhinnie is the soft, heather honey Highland malt distilled at Scotland's highest and coldest distillery. The distillery briefly swapped its worm tubs for modern condensers in the 1980s, then returned to the worms when the spirit changed.

It was distilled slowly for a clean, fragrant spirit, for the heather honey make Dalwhinnie is known for. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the light, honeyed character to the fore. By the integrating teens congeners fade and esters build, the soft, honeyed spirit growing rounder over its waxy core. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey to the fore. Cook and Bernheimer, then America's largest distillers, bought it at auction in 1905. Long ageing turns the fresh fruit towards honey, dried fruit and a soft spice.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.5%, it is rich. A gentle, floral sweetness, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A dried fruit and a soft oak give it depth. A long, honeyed finish carries an orchard fruit and a warming heat. This is a gentle, honeyed Highland single malt.