Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old

BourbonNorth1: ... I have honestly no idea why this would be rated a 95 by Murray, although obviously taste is subjective and a great many of his reviews and ratings are exceedingly good.

Jim Murray's Whisky Bible has recycled the same word-for-word review for Dalwhinnie 15 since the initial Whisky Bible was published more than 10 years ago. The whisky itself has changed. IMHO, the flavor profile has changed considerably since that initial review was published. I was alittle slow to catch on to the note on the back of each bible stating how many new reviews were included. That meant the rest were recycled. For the 2014 issue, the recycled reviews (but not necessarily the numerical rating) accounts for 70-75% of the guide. I have begun to buy used guides. Doesn't make sense to pay full retail for only 20-25% new content, and considerable content that is more than 5-10 years old.

@cherynifer, you are so right. The whisky world has already for some years been too large for Jim Murray to re-review all of the whiskies in his Whisky Bible every year, or even every two years. Really for the book to remain up-to-date the whiskies need to be re-assessed every year. Even regular annual re-reviews would not be sufficient for highly batch variable whiskies like differing batches of highly peated Islay whiskies. Those whiskies need mulitple reviews by batch number.

I don't blame Mr. Murray for being unable to accomplish an impossible task. But it is true that most of his information in each edition lacks timely relevance. I imagine that what he would say about this is that what he has written several years ago is far better than nothing...and it is.

I expect to continue to buy Jim Murray's Whisky Bible, not only for the reviews of new releases, but also especially for his on-going commentary on the evolution of the world-wide whisky industry. I admire Jim Murray very much for not being a lackey of the regulatory and commercial powers that be. (His liking Ardbeg and Glenmorangie doesn't make him their lackey. He is just someone who happens to like Ardbeg and Glenmorangie. People like to work with people whom they like.) His campaigns against use of caramel in whisky and sulphur contamination in casks, for example, are great services to lovers of high quality spirits. With respect to those issues Jim Murray was for years almost a lone voice crying out in the desert.

@BourbonNorth1, thanks for a nice fair heart-felt review. Mr. Murray is all about balance, complexity, and subtlety. Dalwhinnie 15 is just too subtle and mild for most Connosr members to get excited about...then there are also those who taste and nose 'baby vomit' in Dalwhinnie 15 as well.

I like Dalwhinnie 15 just fine in its subtlety and refinement...but it has been about 2 years since I have been motivated to reach for my bottle of it. No, it is a pretty minor draw for me, too, and I admit to liking it.

That's actually really interesting. It makes sense that you couldn't possibly re-try all those whiskies every year, but for some reason it hadn't even crossed my mind to look at how long the ratings have stood for. And absolutely Murray's discussion of what goes on in the whiskey world at large is worth buying the Bible for almost by itself.

Also, thankfully I didn't detect any 'baby vomit' flavors in this whiskey. Definitely glad about that one!

While I agree a score of 95 is too high for this whisky - IMHO it's more of a 84/85...You are right however - def a lighter/mellow single malt for those who do not care for the smokey Islays.