Dailuaine 12 Year Old 1994 Authentic Collection

Considering that this is only my 15th Dailuaine after more than 5.000 samples whiskies, that’s saying something about how many times you come across this distillery. Well, only 2% of all their whisky is bottled as single malt, the rest is for the blenders. This is a somewhat older release of a 12 years old, released by Cadenhead in their Authentic Collection, meaning cask strength. Let’s get to work!

The nose is very closed and offers little at first. Hay, apples, dusty books, gooseberries, cold coffee and nougat. It took some effort though. My nose prickles from the alcohol. Not bad, but I’m not impressed either.

On the palate the gooseberries come first. They offer a mighty bittersweet note. Apple, grapefruit juice, pepper and ginger follow. And something artificial that is hard to pinpoint. Sweetener? Liquorice for sure. Relatively alcoholic on the palate as well.

The finish is very long, quite piquant and dies a candy-like sweet death.

The nose promised little, but on the palate and especially in the finish it became much more interesting. Thanks for the sample, Foamy!

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