Daftmill 2006 Winter Batch Release

-



I've been interested in trying a Daftmill release for some time but the opportunity hadn't presented itself. I was tempted to try one in The Pot Still one night (can't remember the bottle details) but it was £30 or so for a dram and I wasn't rich (or drunk) enough to splash that sort of cash.

 Enter @stewedwhisky who, after a wee Twitter exchange, very generously sent a sample of the 2006 Winter Batch Release for me to try.

 Granted a licence to distill in 2005, Daftmill didn't rush into releasing whisky after only 3 or 4 years, instead choosing to wait a fair while longer with the Daftmill 2005-12 Year Inaugural Release. Located near Cupar, Fife the distillery itself is built in a old converted farm building  and has a maximum production capacity of 20,000 litres of spirit per year, making it a very low volume/highly desirable whisky.

 So, is Daftmill worth the hype?

 Daftmill 2006 Winter Batch Release 

 ABV 46%

 Nose - Autumnal orchard fruits. Green apple, pears some biscuity or pastry type notes. Cereals and slighlty floral
Taste - Oily, slightly sour and with a hint of new make. The cask is not overly infuencing this showing off the quality of the Daftmill spirit. Drying into the finish
Finish - The wood from the bourbon barrels used for maturation is more evident here. Long, green and sappy, green apples along with some freshly malted barley. Very drying.

 Overall - I really enjoyed this. Not hiding the spirit behind a sherried, peated or strange cask finish showcases how good the Daftmill new make is. 
Pic.by @stewedwhisky 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bowmore - Vaults Secrets Tour

-
Image
Wednesday, April 10:30 am. Not the usual time to be enjoying a dram (maybe it is for some folk) but here I am sitting sipping a Bowmore Vault First Edition in the distillery bar overlooking Loch Indaal. This is the the Bomore Vaults Secrets tour and already the signs are it's going to be good. It started when the Father in Law and I were called by our guide, Kim, for the tour to find we were the only two on it. A private tour round Islay's oldest distillery? Sign me up! The tour started with us being issued our own Bowmore branded lanyards and Perfect Dram glasses (always a good sign of the amount of whisky you can expect on a tour when you get a lanyard) which were promptly filled with a good measure of Vault First Edition. A nice wee opener and a welcome reward after the grueling 500ft or so walk in the sunshine from our accomodation to the distillery. After the drams, Kim took us from the bar to the Malt Barns which are situated over three levels in a building ...
Read more

Lindores Abbey Visit

-
Image
Lindores Abbey is a relatively new distillery, beginning production of spirit in 2017 in the village of Newburgh, Fife.  However, distilling was taking place here as early as 1494. The  earliest written reference to Scotch Whisky (or Aqua Vitae, as it was then known), appears in the Exchequer Roll of the same year. It mentioned a Brother John Cor, a Lindores monk, who was commissioned by King James IV to turn 8 bolls of malt into Aqua Vitae.   That amounts to around 500kg in today's money and would have been enough to make about 400 bottles of whisky. I visited along with a willing fiancee, bulldog and two very unwilling kids in July 2019 for a tour and some lunch afterwards.  Initial impressions on arriving was that the place was immaculate. A lot of care and attention to detail has been incorporated into the design of the building with a lot of the materials used in the build sourced from the local area. The 50 foot long oak table was the mai...
Read more

Kilchoman 100% Islay 8th Edition

-
Image
I didn't set out to buy this one when visiting Kilchoman, but they had just ran out the distillery only bottling so my thinking was this was the next best thing. Distilled solely from  barley grown and floor malted at Kilchoman, I decided to complete the process by buying it there as well. Cask -  A vatting of 23 bourbon barrels and 7 oloroso sherry butts  Region  - Islay ABV -  50.% Colour  - Gold Nose  - Vanilla, pineapple, citrus, clothes you were wearing at last nights bonfire, something mineral like in the background Taste - Gentle arrival, quite bitter, lemons, limes, orange pith. A lot of malted barley, ash and some pepper Finish  - Medium length, gentle smoke, slightly dry, green apples Conclusion -   Good but not great. A lot going on, maybe too much so. Very strange combination of bitter/sour fruits with an ashy background. Maybe I need to try more Kilchoman. Gus's Distillery Visit Revi...
Read more