🥃 Whisky Auctioneer

A light whisky and generally the 15 Dalwhinnie is an underrated dram in most circles but I think it is an excellent introduction to Highland Whisky and whisky in general. This particular bottling is no exception, a light slightly flowery nose with honey and white fruits. The palate had the fruit and is pleasantly light and fizzy with some peat coming through at the end to give it a pleasant and quite a long finish. Good stuff, while not particularly exciting it has a certain charm, one to while the hours away in front of a fire or reading a good book. I like it.

Golden color. Quite oily structure.

Dangerously drinkable. A single malt with a high-end blend's drinkability and "more-ishness".

nice OBF, here the new version can cut something

S 7 Still vibrant after 30yrs in bottle, fill level slightly under neck. Shares a lot of similarities with other old blending brands. Good texture, big on honey and sweet fruits with limited complexity. Having that said, still better than its modern version in terms of intensity. Taken away a few points due to the metallic note.

There is the nature of the mountains, very good

Dalwienie 15yo 1990s 43%Abv by Schieffelin&Somerset Co. Import, bottle is the same except little importer information at label bottom. scbp-6420, an impeccable basic model, not raw, not bitter, not bitter or spicy, the performance at 43 degrees is not old, but the excitement is really over the line.

Dalwhinnie Scotch Whisky - Single Highland Malt, James Buchanan & Co, 15 years old, 43%. 50ml miniature from a Classic Malts of Scotland set obtained at auction. The main label design is almost identical to that shown in the larger format version here on Whiskybase (the only difference being that the miniature label doesn’t state “The Gentle Spirit” nor the text immediately under it). Not lot coded. Dark golden. Aroma is pineapple cube sweets, burnt marshmallows. Simplistic but pleasant enough. Lightly oily. Taste has a biscuity malt background with fruit squash over it and then the spicy earthy peppery peat and exotic spice. Lingering fruit gum sweetness. Waxy. Just becoming slightly papery into the finish. Increasingly burnt. A pleasant whisky for sure. A few things going on. Solid stuff, although I can’t say I prefer it to more recent bottlings. 3.5/84

Wonderfully balanced and extremely drinkable Highlander. Malty sweetness and oak wood with a fine smoky note are balanced. The Gentle Spirit fits perfectly. Yummy!

A wonderful trip into bygone times. So delicious and dangerously drinkable. Wow!

Dalwhinnie 15 YO OA WID: 34171 Abv. 43%, Bottled 1990s Nose: very sweet and floral, with a hint of honey and malt, fresh apple peel, very fresh and summery, cardamom, brioche, no corners and edges for me to smell Taste: very fruity and no surprise compared to the nose, the honey is more present and a slight oak spiciness is added Finish: seasoned apples, a touch of cinnamon and a medium-length finish in which the light spice and fruitiness alternate Conclusion: really a very pleasant malt. I have to try the regular one, because I do not really remember it anymore. It may also be due to my prolonged abstinence, but the 43% convince me. Of that a flat may like to find its way to me.

Nose: Complex, heather, sweet, spices, floral, grassyBody: Rich, slightly viscous Palate: Very smooth, Vanilla, floral, green grass There is a label wrapped around the shoulder of the Dalwhinnie 15 bottle. It reads in gold colored embossed script letters “The Gentle Spirit”. I think that is as accurate and succinct as any review I could write. If you were to concentrate and then bottle all of the scents of spring, it would smell like a pale, sad imitation of Dalwhinnie 15. The nose on this whisky is without a doubt the most amazing of any I’ve ever encountered. You can smell heather, spices, flowers, and freshly mowed lawn as you sit with the glass of Dalwhinnie 15 on the table in front of you. And when you dip your nose into the mouth of the Glencairn glass, all those scents of Spring explode in your nose. You almost literally hear pastoral classical music in your head. It was also exceptionally smooth; much smoother than I’d expect of even a fifteen years matured drink. Unfortunately, there was a problem. If the nose was a $1M check that the Dalwhinnie had written itself in college as a promise of future riches, the palate was akin to the bank teller telling you that there are insufficient funds to honor your check. I'm not saying that it didn’t taste good. It was a pleasant tasting dram, but sadly the palate was just entirely over-shadowed by the nose. All the scents were present, but in a much more muted way. I didn’t find that adding water opened up any flavors either. The dram was very straight forward, beautifully scented, smooth, and pleasant but unexciting to the taste. But somehow, I kept going back to the “what if”. “What if the palate expounded on, or extended the nose. What if the palate had lived-up to the promises the nose had made?” I would definitely drink it again, I’m just not sure I’d seek it out--that I would ever find myself longing to taste it again. But then, it did live up to the promise it made on its label. It doesn’t want to be exciting, it wants to be and indeed is a “gentle spirit”.

My favourite whisky - clean, crisp, and not peaty. It's also widely available and very reasonably priced.