It's safe to say at this point that I'm an enormous fan of Dailuaine, and will buy almost any bottling for their spirit that I find. The last bottle I had, a 9 year from Single Cask Nation, was just lovely front to back. The last sherried version I had, a Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") bottle nicknamed "Jam-Packed With Darkness" was amazing, as it featured the signature "watermelon Jolly rancher"/"Sour Patch kid" note I get with Dailuaine, but with tons of rich sherry notes overlaid on top, which was surprisingly successful.
This bottle was submitted to the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco, and scored Double Gold, with an overall score of 94. I honestly have no idea what this means in a real world context, but it sure sounds impressive. Here are the official notes:
Cinnamon, cumin and turmeric beautifully integrated with dark chocolate, marmalade and banana skin while the delightful oiliness of glazed pork and chorizo coated antique wood in a Spanish bodega. Fruitcake emerged on the palate with sour cherries, cranberries and prunes, topped with burnt moscovado sugar, ground coffee beans and slithers of orange skin. Water combined coffee with cream as dried fruits merged mint chocolate and wood char in the most sophisticated way. On the tongue a joyous amalgamation of cocoa nibs, orange oil and brown sugar complimented chocolate covered brazil nuts, praline and walnuts crushed with a linseed coated cricket bat. After spending 9 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead this was transferred to a 1st fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.
Well, this has a lot of winning notes for me: spices, chocolate, banana *skin*, oily meat, old wood... sounds like an exceptionally good sherry cask was used for the finish. I am most hopeful for the coffee beans and the "sophisticated" wood char.
Bottled at 57.6% ABV, let's explore this sherry-finished Dailuaine:
Nose: This is a lovely nose, and quite subtle: immediately you get spices of a wide variety, from cinnamon to allspice to a surprisingly strong curry, but underneath is a dry, nutty, leathery quality, and underneath that is a big honey sweetness. It has a lot of layers and they shift around as you scent it. I also get chocolate and old wood... and after the glass has opened up quite a bit, a BBQ pork note, like Chinese Char Siu.
With water: More chocolate, some Chinese plum sauce, otherwise stays mostly the same. Quite a rich nose.
Mouthfeel: Medium, oily, silky-type mouthfeel.
Palate: Big flavors here that encompass both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry sides of the equation. A proper balanced sherry finish, instead of the situation one often gets, where the sherry finish totally overrides the bourbon.
I get prunes and raisins, new leather, vanilla extract, spices, polished oak, orange peel, hints of lime, brown sugar and honey, and coffee grounds.
With water: Becomes a bit more bitter - chocolate and curry and leather and raisins and spices and oak. Tons of salted nuts, especially almond. Burnt orange peel. Less honey than before. More coffee grounds.
Finish: A surprisingly rich, huge finish! I didn't expect this. A huge red wine burst of earthy, leathery flavor plus many spices, aged oak, and a backbone of manuka honey. Lasts a long, long time.
Verdict: This is a very well executed whisky. Although I suspect most master distillers have only educated guesses as to how a finish will turn out when they rerack a cask, this one basically turned out perfectly.
The essentially sweet and oaky ex-bourbon backbone is complemented very nicely by rich, nutty sherry that "fills in the gaps" and provides a nice savory side. The finish is amazing - long, full, and flavorful.
I always love Dailuaine, and I confess that the essential personality of the spirit is not strongly on display here - I sorely miss the watermelon candy I usually get - but it's a delightful whisky nonetheless. A fantastic exemplar of sherry-finished ex-bourbon scotch. I see why it did so well with the judges at the World Spirits Competition.
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