Deprived of whisky festivals and tasting events, online versions aplenty have sprouted up all over the place!
As for our three whisky tasting groups based in Mumbai? We’ve also switched to catching up virtually… which enables me sitting here in Nurnberg to have an opportunity connect too.
Truth be told, our Bombay Malt & Cigar group is a rather international lot. As things started to shut down, one member was in his UK home, another in Belgium, of course I’m here in Germany, leaving only two anchoring our Mumbai presence. With the booze shops in India firmly shut, supplies dwindled.
So what did our gents chose to accompany their cigars? We had a Glenlivet 12 year, Glenfiddich 18 year and Bowmore 100 proof… and me? What did I select? In our last gathering I cracked open a big bottle so this time was more sensible and went for a mini…
Dailuaine 10 year 46% (Douglas Laing’s Provenance)
- Colour – Like a pale white wine, almost without any colour
- Nose – Mmmm apple sauce, then a bit salty, sweet, reminded me of sesame snaps, then revealed a copper quality, a bit vegetal, sweet hay, then saline and leafy, increasingly woodsy, even a bit toast, sour mash then back to butterscotch cream
- Palate – Cooked fruit and cream, malty, barley… it continued to evolve, nice and oily, shifting between sweet and a hint of bitter, chased by light pipe tobacco
- Finish – A nice spicy zing, ginger, cloves and cinnamon with a bit of bitter bark and more of that slightly metallic twang with a touch of minerals too
There was enough going on here for it to be interesting yet was somehow personable too.
I tried to find out more – checking the options on Master of Malt to see what might be a likely candidate for inclusion in the advent calendar.
I can’t say for sure, but think what I tried may be from Cask 11618… If correct, the folks at Master of Malt have this to say:
A single cask bottling of Dailuaine single malt, independently bottled by those ever-wonderful Douglas Laing folks. This whisky was distilled by Dailuaine back in January 2007 and left to age in a refill hogshead for 10 years. In February 2017, it was bottled as part of the Provenance range with an outturn of 357 bottles.
- Nose: Oily malt balanced by gristy sweetness, followed by a touch of heather honey.
- Palate: Buttered bread, fresh ginger, sliced apple and a subtle hint of toasted barley smokiness.
- Finish: Mineral hints linger on the finish.
The other option could be Cask 11777 (Mar 2007 / May 2017) however the tasting notes don’t jibe and specifically miss the clear mineral qualities found in the one I sampled.
Either way, you can find a cousin of this bottle in Europe for around EUR 45. Quite reasonable for a decent dram….
Here are a few others I tried from my advent calendar minis:
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