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Dalwhinnie Winters Gold

Ho Hum

0 684

@MaltActivistReview by @MaltActivist

15th Mar 2016

0

Dalwhinnie Winters Gold
  • Nose
    21
  • Taste
    21
  • Finish
    21
  • Balance
    21
  • Overall
    84

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Tricks. Tricks. Tricks. Everyone's up to some trick or the other.

Like this NAS Dalwhinnie for example. Released as a whisky to be consumed totally chilled. Seriously?

I know what chilling a whisky does to it? It kills the nose entirely. Drops a lot of the delicate notes on the palate. And is, in my opinion, not how you should drink whisky. The only one exception I will make is with the Chivas 18. Drop that puppy in a freezer for a couple of months and experience the magic.

Anyway.

I didn't bother with all this chilling nonsense and chose to taste it at room temperature instead. My sample is from a brand new bottle and served at 43%

Citrus. Lime. Menthol. Ginger. Gingerbread. Honey. Touch of smoke. Hint of oak. Moist apricots. A little underwhelming if you ask me. Some might call it delicate. I like to be a little pretentious. 21/25

Green apples. Citrus. Touch of herbs. Clove. That minty stuff again. Little spicy thanks to the gingerbread. Malt. It's not bad if you ask me. Just a bit ho hum. 21/25

Short. Hint of spice. Raisins. 21/25

I wish when I had first started drinking whiskies someone had poured me a glass of this. Instead I quaffed half a bottle of Vat 69 in twenty minutes and then ended up fighting for my life on top of the toilet. It would have made for a much easier transition.

And if you ask I think I will try it frozen. Just to see if it makes it any better.

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6 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

Mild-mannered is not for everybody.

Thanks for your informative review, @MaltActivist!

8 years ago 0

@Alexsweden
Alexsweden commented

Do they state any reason why it is to be chilled?

8 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

@Victor True. True.

@Alexsweden No official reason as to why it should be drunk chilled. Its called Winters Gold because it was distilled in...... wait for it....... The Winter! A bit of marketing BS I assume. Surprisingly for a distillery that stays pretty much under the radar.

8 years ago 0

@Frost
Frost commented

@MaltActivist thank you for fuelling my anti-NAS frame of mind. This is just a scheme to move people to younger spirit and mask it by freezing it. I tried the Snow Grouse, also to be drank chilled, and it was simply "brown vodka"

Speaking of chilling a drink. I did go to a whisky show in Sydney in 2013, and in a room of single malt expressions was a table with the JW rep. He had to stand out (And was sandwiched between Auchentoshan and Elements of Islay tables), so he placed a bottle of JW Gold in a container filled with dry ice. It froze much of the water inside the bottle and left a concentrated high ABV JW Gold to taste. Novel trick and improved the taste for sure.

8 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

@Frost I know what you mean. My exception is the Chivas 18 which is a beaut when frozen. That JW stunt looks interesting though!

8 years ago 0

@Ol_Jas
Ol_Jas commented

Frost, that IS a novel trick. I'm rather surprised, actually, that they would do a trick that effectively highlights the amount of water they added to the bottle to begin with.

8 years ago 0