Dallas Dhu – it’s one of those names that you hear and go “hm, yeah.. I think I have had that, actually… a while back” but as soon as the words leave your confused tongue you know them to be untrue – too late to turn back now, though: “pretty decent, I seem to remember, nothing special”. Oh, you fool. You utter fool. Of course you’ve never had it! This is (roughly) what I caught myself saying, and thinking, a couple of years back. As luck should have it, however, I was recently offered a dram of Dallas Dhu 1976 28 year old. Before I get started on the review, I feel obligated to give you a brief bit of information about the distillery. Dallas Dhu can be found in Speyside, but rather unfortunately had to close down in the 1980’s. Today it is owned by the National Trust, and acts as one of their tourist attractions – for more information or to arrange a visit, head on over to their website.
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Most of you will, no doubt, have heard of Edradour. It is, to my knowledge, Scotland’s smallest distillery, and it uses the smallest stills as well. Located in Pitlochry, they produce a range of absolutely beautiful single malt whiskies. I read somewhere – unfortunately I can’t remember where – that Edradour used to be one of seven distilleries operating in Perthshire, but unfortunately none of the other six are running today. In memory of days gone, Edradour have decided to name their heavily peated series – Ballechin – after one of the other six distilleries that was active in the region between 1810 and 1927.
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A wee while ago I was contacted by a company called Arizona High Spirits. While it was the first time I heard of them, I gather that they are best known for their prickly pear (cactus) vodka and liqueur (which I shall search high and low for – sounds delicious!), though they also make a chilli flavoured vodka, spiced rum, gin and, of course, whiskey! Now, the whiskey is a rather new addition to their range – in fact, they’ve only made 1 batch and so far as I am aware it has not been released for general sale yet, as they wanted some expert opinions first (yikes!).
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Having recently “rediscovered” Glenfiddich, I decided to make their standard 18 year old expression my dram of the day. Since I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m developing a cold, I also decided to make it my second dram of the day – just to be on the safe side.
Rather than blabbering on in my usual fashion, I’m going to get straight to business with this review. My very first thought when putting dram #1 to my nose was “I bet this would go well with a cup of coffee”, a theory I proved right some 5 minutes of impatient waiting later. Do note that I said with and not in, by the way. The nose has a lovely and well rounded scent to it, packed with sweet dried fruits (apricot, apple, raisins) along with a vanilla fudge note, as well as a lovely bit of citrus which brings a perfect measure of balance to the sweetness. I can’t quite decide whether it is better than the 15 year old, though… I suspect they may be on a par.
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I’m really enjoying rye whiskey at the moment – much like pretty much everyone else, it would seem – and so was pleased when I was able to pick up a bottle of Sazerac Rye (though unfortunately it was merely the standard expression, and not the 25 year old 18 year old that scored a hefty 97.5 and taking the place as the world’s best whisk(e)y in Jim Murray’s 2009 Whisky Bible) at one of my local whisky shops. Regular readers may expect a bit of history before I start the review, but unfortunately I couldn’t really find anything interesting to write about Sazerac. You may think that would mean that the review will be nice and short – but I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I’ve chosen instead to give you my pick of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival (as I did last year).
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If you are on a budget, I’d turn and run right now, before you get so intrigued as to find yourself unable to do anything but buy a bottle – or at least a dram (if you can find a pub that stocks it, which I doubt). The bottle that I’m taking a look at today doesn’t come cheap, you see, as it is currently selling around the £300 mark. If you do have the money to spend, however, I would definitely read on.
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