Dailuaine 29 Years Old 1983 Old Spiced Balm (46%, Wemyss Malts, Bourbon HH #4439, 311 Bottles, 2013)

• ABV: 46%
• Age: 29 Years Old
• Bottling: Wemyss Malts
• Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
• Cost: £sold out
• Origin: Dailuaine distillery
• Vintage: 1983

What they say

Sampled from The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar by Secret Spirits

The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar

Become gift-giver of the year! (Even if you give it to YOURSELF)…
We travel to Scotland every year to hand-pick every barrel of Scotch that makes it into this extraordinarily rare advent calendar.
The majority of the whiskies in this calendar have never been tasted before, and will not be tasted again.
These bottles of cask-strength Scotch (along with a few blended malts that were too incredible to pass up) are exclusive to our calendar.
Go on a journey of Mystery, Discovery and Delight with this rare selection of whiskies, and you won’t return the same…
Each Edition comes with:

• 25 share-sized bottles (50ml) of one-of-a-kind Scotch Whiskies
• Edition Unique Whisky tasting glass
• Keepsake tasting note booklet
• Feature distillery postcard
• Collector’s lapel pin

Tasting notes from Jonathan Bray:

• Colour:     Polished gold
• Nose:     Should we be engaging in any number of back to back manly activities as we sniff this? I can picture the Old Spice guy complete with ripped 6 pack holding a glass of this aloft. More so than usual I have been all over the descriptive names Wemyss have come up with in this edition. Spicy, perfumey, balmy. Walking into a spice shop with open racks of exotic spices. Candle Wax and wood polish. Hints of dried tropical fruits like banana and papaya.
• Palate:     Spice cupboard medley with mouth coating fullness. Only age does this to a whisky. This is my first Dailuaine and I like where this is going. There is a little citrus wood polish element to it after it has been soaked into old hardwood. A background note of eucalypt makes me miss being home on Christmas Eve.
• Finish:     A really nice 46% tingle that hits the roof of my mouth especially. Long and developing into clove and linseed Oil (I use it to oil my cricket bats).

What I say

*Spoiler Alert* This sample was from The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 5th Edition (2015).

Distilled at Dailuaine distillery in Speyside in 1983 and matured for 29 years in an ex bourbon hogshead #4439 and bottled by Wemyss Malts named ” Old Spiced Balm”

This post was sponsored by Secret Spirits by provision of a sample of this product.

My tasting notes:

• Appearance: Pale Sauternes gold (7/20), slow, large, oily tears and thick legs.
• Nose: Tropical fruit, beeswax, sweet and dusty old oak wood, icing sugar, banana, mango, melon, chalky, talcum powder, floral lavender, perfumed.
• Taste: Fruity and spiced, cinnamon, white pepper, ginger root, nutmeg, Edinburgh rock, chalky/fruity, orchard fruits, linseed oil, almond, yellow plum, beeswax and paraffin wax, vanilla custard and egg custard flan.
• Finish: Long, dried mango, banana chips, some lime zest.

Overall

A superb old Dailuaine, quite light and bourbon matured unlike the sherry heavy OB, waxy rather than meaty.

Score 88/100

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