Every once in awhile, blogging has its perks…

On August 5th, I received the following email from our friends at Master of Malt:

Hi G-LO,

We have sent out some samples for you to try! However, I think I may have messed up my labeling, and yours may be arriving with the wrong name on the parcel and letter. Ignore this. It is a mistake and they are for you! But I may be wrong and you may actually get the right one. It was one of those days!

But anyway, we hope you like them and we look forward to hearing what you think.

Could you let me know when they arrive to you safely?

Kind regards,

RT

I quickly sent him the following response:

RT,

So were you sampling the samples when you sent them out? Is that what happened? Perhaps you will need to send a second set to make sure that they arrive safely. I tease of course (though we WILL accept more freebies)! Thanks so much for thinking of us. Looking forward to the parcel of goodness!

Cheers!

G-LO

As you can see from the photo above, the whiskies arrived safe and sound. They were delivered on Friday, August 12th (talk about a quick turnaround! I immediately sent RT an email as he requested), the day we were scheduled to leave for Maine. While the packages were shipped to the correct address, RT’s suspicions were correct, and he did indeed mix up the names. I received the package with some Dutch guy’s name on it. I guess that means my name is floating around the Netherlands somewhere. Oh well… at least we both got our whisky!

Our latest package from Master of Malt included four single cask Single Malt Whiskies and a “cheeky sample of Ron De Jeremy” spiced rum. Here are the names of the Single Malts that we received:

• Cragganmore 20 Year Old 1991
• Dalmore 14 Year Old 1996
• Dailuaine 27 Year Old 1983
• North British 20 Year Old 1991

The ROK, Limpd, and the Wookie each received one Single Malt sample which they will soon review and write up on the blog. The Wookie, our self proclaimed Rum specialist, has been given the dubious honor of reviewing the Ron De Jeremy. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say about it! I wonder how it compares to The Kraken. I will start this series of reviews off with my tasting notes of the Dailuaine 27 Year Old.

Here goes…

Dailuaine 27 Year Old

• Appearance: Light amber color. Long, thin, fast moving legs form after giving it a swirl.
• Aroma: Caramel. Dried fruit. Sweet smelling pipe tobacco. Hints of wintergreen and other herbal notes. Adding water brings out some anise.
• Taste: Slick and slippery feel when it hits your tongue. Starts off with lots of spiciness that attacks the tip of your tongue. Cinnamon and mild black pepper spiciness starts to build at mid-palate and leads you towards a warming, medium finish. Adding water tames the spiciness just a bit, and brings out some herbal and medicinal qualities in the finish.
• ABV: 53.6%

To be completely honest, prior to receiving this package, I had never heard of Dailuaine before. Per Master of Malt, this whisky comes from the Speyside region of Scotland, and this particular expression has been matured in refill sherry casks. If you’d like to read a bit more about the history of the Dailuaine distillery, you can get more information from MaltMadness.com (click here for their Dailuaine distillery profile).

Overall, I found this to be an exceptionally smooth, well balanced, and complex whisky, and even when you sip it at full strength (is there any other way to drink whisky?), the alcohol is never overwhelming. The Dailuaine 27 Year Old is sweet, spicy, slightly herbal, and just plain delicious! It’s a pity that only 2% of their total output ever gets distributed as a Single Malt bottling. Perhaps that will change once the word gets out about this distillery.