Douglas Laing Speyside Twitter Tasting

WELL, this is embarrassing. This particular Twitter tasting actually happened back in November, but due to December's advent calendar shenanigans, I forgot to post a blog entry at the time. I've just stumbled across my notes from the evening - which was to mark the launch of Scallywag - so I though I better get something down before I lose my notes again.
    There were four whiskies on the night, including the Scallywag, but since I've already blogged about that particular dram, here I'll concentrate on the three others from the night.
    A huge thanks to Steve Rush over at the The Whisky Wire for organising the evening and it's worthwhile keeping your eye on Steve's site for upcoming tasting sessions throughout 2014. So, enough of the waffle, let's get stuck in.

Old Particular: Dailuaine 15 - 48.4%
282 bottles produced from a bourbon barrel

On the nose, the Dailuaine 15 carries a slightly musty note, which soon gives way to mint, eucalyptus, pine needles, grapefruit, baked lemon and butter icing. Very unusual and incredibly interesting. On the palate, the whisky has an oily mouth feel, while grass, herbs and a slight toffee note clearly come through. A little water brings out buttery sweet wood and coconut, while the finish is dry and sweet with lovely herbal notes. Really enjoyed this and it was quite unlike anything I had tasted before


 
Old Particular: Dufftown 18 - 48.4%
197 bottles produced from a refill hogshead

This starts out with a very earthy nose and took a while to open up. Once it did, I got green oak, vanilla, soft golden fruit, dried banana chips, crushed mint leaves, gooseberries and a whiff of cloudy cider. The first taste was packed with delicious melon which was then joined by orange oil, lemon and vanilla notes. The finish was heavy on the fruitcake - with unmistakable slabs of marzipan and white icing. A cake in a glass. Lovely.


Old Particular: Glen Grant 21 - 51.5%
374 bottles produced from a single sherry butt

On the nose this is a complex and mouthwatering dram with some definite bourbon qualities lurking under the surface. There's ginger cake, dried fruit, dark rum-soaked cherries, old wooden furniture, dates, caramel and a dollop of treacle. After leaving it for five minutes and adding a teaspoon of water, this transformed into the smell of stick toffee pudding. Amazing. It tasted just as good with baked dark fruit, raisins, warm caramel sauce and a bite of dark chocolate, while the finish was long with brown sugar and dried fruit notes coming to the fore.