Boring, meek, shallow, average, foul – these are all antonyms to the words that would best describe Ardbeg’s outstanding Uigeadail expression, which sits before me as I write this very review, smothering me with its luxurious peaty smoke. This isn’t the first Ardbeg review I’ve written (keen readers may remember by previous brown-nose reviews of Blasda, Renaissance and 10yr old and once again I am going to end up sounding like a complete fanboy, which I suppose that I am.
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.
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.
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.
What makes whisky so interesting, and at the same time daunting, is the sheer range of variations, flavours, brands and expressions gathered under its banner. Even if you have your daily dram as prescribed by any doctor worth his salt, you can go a whole year without drinking the same dram twice. Not literally the same dram, of course – one would assume (hope, even) that you could go a lifetime without doing that, regardless of the frequency of your consumption. It follows, then, that you might go for months on end without revisiting the same distillery twice.
Having previously tried, and quite enjoyed, the 1997 expression of Balblair, I decided to treat myself to a miniature bottle of the 1989 when I saw it at the till the other day. It was the first time in quite a while that I purchased a miniature bottle, actually; I often find that I will drink them, enjoy them, and feel obliged to buy a full sized bottle – as you might imagine, it can easily turn into a costly affair!
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