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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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July 14, 2020 |
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Ultimate duos and wee fights, today Dufftown
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We’re going on with our exploration of the new Prima & Ultima series by Diageo. Flora & Fauna would have been more ‘post-Covid’ and surely less trumpeting as the name of the series, but apparently, it’s taken. Ha. So today, Dufftown as one of those Singletons I’ve never quite understood since when it was Singleton of Auchroisk, in the old days. But I’m sure that’s me, and that the strategies were extremely smart… Anyway let’s have a young light one as the sparring-partner… |
The friendly sparring-partner: |
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Dufftown 2008/2017 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, refill sherry hogshead) 
This was still the older, humbler livery. Colour: straw. Nose: it’s this grassy, doughy and sooty style. Rust, old tools, mown lawn, sawdust, sourdough, carbon paper, saltpetre, new magazine… In short, it’s a rather austere nose. Mouth: sweeter at first, with some kinds of peppered sweets like they have in Mexico (unless I’m wrong, I once got Mexican lollipops that had been very peppery), then grass, barley wine, cinnamon mints, more pepper and something reminiscent of charcoal. Gets then breadier and bitterer, with also notes of Fanta (mild retching here – that’s not the whisky it’s the idea of Fanta). Finish: rather long, inky, grassy, not easy. Orange peel and soot. Comments: not quite my cup of malt I have to say, but I know this style has got some aficionados.
SGP:361 - 77 points. |
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The Singleton of Dufftown 30 yo 1988/2019 (48.8%, OB, Prima & Ultima, refill American oak, 469 bottles) 
What does make this one stand out? Well, it was distilled just after they had decided to do longer fermentations at Dufftown and it is part of the very first hogsheads they had filled after that change in the wash. Basically, Dufftown became fruitier and grassier in 1988. Colour: straw. The wonders of proper refill! Nose: I find it a little tropical at first, with a layer of coconut and avocado juice, then rather herbal and aromatic, with quite some verbena, elderflowers and sweet woodruff or Waldmeister syrup. Also tiny touches of caraway and aniseed, as well as this apple liqueur they make in Spain and which they call, naturally, manzana. Mouth: more or less the same flavours, plus more pepper. I for one am a sucker for anything herbal like this, chartreuse plants, absinth, Verveine, fennel, dill… While all that transforms into green fruits, rhubarb tarte, preserved greengages, gooseberries, apples… It’s very nicely fresh and refreshing, just a wee tad thin here and there, but I believe that’s part of the style. Finish: medium, fresh, with herbal teas, a little liquorice, aniseed, fennel seeds, and an oak that got a tad mentholy, which goes well in this context. A little white chocolate and coconut oil in the aftertaste. Comments: lovely and kind of light, perhaps an afternoon malt? I find it excellent, it could easily replace that ‘cup of tea’ that recently went entirely out of fashion in continental Europe.
SGP:461 - 89 points. |
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