Dalwhinnie The Distillers Edition 16 Years Old 1995

An official release of Dalwhinnie, a 16 year old, from 1995, cask D. SS. 312, at 43%. Dalwhinnie is a light, honeyed Highland malt shaped by its worm tubs and the coldest air in Britain. Its water is soft snowmelt drawn from the surrounding hills.

The spirit was run through the pear shaped stills on soft snowmelt water, giving the soft, honeyed Highland spirit. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut over the honey. At oxidative maturity vanillin and lactones are fully expressed, the heather honey deepening over a waxy weight. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey to the fore. The distillery briefly swapped its worm tubs for modern condensers in the 1980s, then returned to the worms when the spirit changed. The site lies in the high Drumochter pass, often cut off by snow in deep winter.

At 43% it is clean and soft. Soft heather honey, apple and a gentle malt, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is soft and waxy, the fruit carried on a honeyed body. The finish is rounded, honeyed and gently warming. This is Dalwhinnie, the highest distillery in Scotland.