Alexander Murray Dailuaine 16 Year Old 1997

Mega-Rare alert!

Single malt expressions of Dailuaine (pronounced dal-YOU-an) are rather rare indeed. Like many of the distilleries in ‘team Diageo’, all the spirit here is destined for blending with special bottlings so few and far between that you’re better off standing outside the distillery breathing in its vapor or waiting for a lunar eclipse. If you come across a bottle from this Speysider, you’d better snap it up.

Lesser-known for this very reason, it’s a great shame that it’s not seen bottled as a single malt more often as it’s incredibly good. Akin to the likes of Cragganmore, Benrinnes, Mortlach and to an extent Dalwhinnie, Dailuaine plays within the meaty/sulfury spirit profile that is so interesting after maturation.

In the case of Dailuaine the meaty character is subtle – maybe even more nutty/cheesy in its own special way – although malt and fruit tend to lead. Often seen matured in sherry as well as bourbon due to its ability to stand strong during aggressive maturation.

Dailuaine is a tricky one to describe. Best put, from all of us at Alexander Murray & Co: go try it now.