Dailuaine 8-year-old Premier Barrel Selection / 46%/ 0.7l

Premier Barrel from the Douglas Laing & Co. portfolio is one of the most impressively packaged whisky lines.

It comes to market in slightly old-fashioned, stoneware decanters, always accompanied by a short stanza referring to a specific whisky and expressed using alliteration (Delightfully Distinguished Dailuaine), which roughly translates to "the delicate perfection of Dailuaine distillate". All whiskies in the Premier Barrel series are bottled with a natural colour and without chill filtration. The Dailuaine 8 years old presented here is a single cask edition limited to 348 bottles (or rather stoneware). The Dailuaine Distillery, built in 1852, is now owned by Diageo and despite its considerable distilling potential (over 5 million litres of alcohol per year), it remains a brand that is basically unknown, because almost 99% of production goes to blends from the group's portfolio.

Nose : barley malt, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, buttered croissant, pralines, dried berries, cinnamon, cloves and a bit of oak.

Palate: sugared peanuts, honey, vanilla pudding, milk fudge, marzipan, orange peel, cherries, mulled wine spice and oak.

Finish : medium long, with notes of honey, vanilla, caramel, nougat, cinnamon, a touch of ginger and oak.