Daftmill 11 Years Old 2008 The Whisky Bars of Scotland

By Barry Bradford on March 7, 2020 • ( 2 Comments )

Daftmill 2008 Single Cask The Whisky Bars of Scotland (55.5%, OB, Bourbon Cask 068/2008, 160 bottles, 2019)

ABV: 55.5%
Age: 11 Years Old
Bottling: OB
Category: Lowland single malt scotch whisky
Cost: £n/a
Origin: Daftmill distillery
Vintage: 2008

What they say

TITLE Daftmill 2008 Single Cask (Whisky Bars of Scotland)
BOTTLED 2019
AGE 11 Years Old
CASK TYPE Bourbon
CASK NUMBER(S) 068/2008
STRENGTH 55.5% Vol.

Daftmill is a farm distillery. Owned and operated by the Cuthbert family, it only runs in the farm’s quiet periods; mid-summer and winter, sometimes producing as few as 100 casks per year. When not distilling, Francis Cuthbert looks after the estate, growing the malting barley used to make this Lowland whisky.

The barley variety Optic was grown in the South fields and harvested in the last week of August 2006. It was then stored on the farm to be malted in Alloa during the summer of 2007.

This first fill ex-Bourbon barrel was filled on the 9th December 2008 and has matured in warehouse 1 until bottling in August 2019. It was selected to be a Whisky Bars of Scotland exclusive and should only be sold by the dram.

What I say

Dram #5 from EWB’s Movember tasting was this 11 year old, 2008 vintage single bourbon cask Daftmill expression exclusively bottled for The Whisky Bars of Scotland.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Full amber gold (10/20)
Nose: Buttery with strong cereal notes, grassy hay, malted barley, golden syrup flapjacks, vanilla danish pastries, hints of apple and pear fruits.
Taste: Thick and oily on the palate, buttery, oily, some cereal barley, sweet light honey, creamed coconut and light fruit notes but what struck me was a strong sense of hydrolysed glycerides/diacylgycerol – a sort of over-buttery flavour usually present from poor distillation which made this a little challenging for me, palate-coating.
Finish: Medium-short, more butter and some soft cereal, vanilla and fruit.

Overall

Well-received by other tasters, almost a complete opposite to the last dram (Imperial). Unfortunately for me this didn’t taste right and had me thinking of early Kininvie releases. Something in this suggested poor distillation or perhaps over-oxidation? Very buttery.