Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Dallas Dhu 1981 (24 year old) 58.3%
Bourbon Cask 387/ Dist: 1981 Btl: 2005/ Tasted: Apr 2006
Crisp, clean and granity fresh nose. A classic Highland (Yes I know it’s a Speysider). Buckets of honeyed orange and sherry spice. It’s soft and succulent with liquid orange and that lovely granity bite.
Dry and crisp on the palate. It opens with slightly botanical fruit followed by crisp malt, earthy honeyed fruit with a very intense and tangy middle. It dissolves into a superb oily orange fruit finish, with the dusty spices and granity hard note remaining.
Water mellows the nose bringing out a vanilla note. On the palate it brings it all together into a rich, honeyed fruitiness, yet its tangy/ granity character still prevails – Superb.
Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Dallas Dhu 1981 (26 year old) 55.8%
Cask 421/ Dist: 1981 Btl: 2007/ Tasted: Jan 2008
A little bit spirity and grassy to begin with. This dram needs a bit of patience because it takes awhile to open up. Eventually it beguiles with a lovely depth of creamy vanilla infused orange and tangerine fruits, followed by the building oak notes of crème caramel and burnt toffee.
The palate initially is a bit oak dominated, but it is wonderfully soft and full of crème caramel, again a bit of patience is rewarded with oodles of spicy orange fruit, a slight floral note and a crisp granity finish.
A drop of water emphasises the granity notes on the nose, teasing out a lime not and subduing the oak. On the palate it is stunning, mouth filling and mellow, with an absolutely divine mouth feel. Ok so it’s not the most complex of Dallas Dhu’s but it is a wonderful mature dram.
Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Dallas Dhu 1981 (27 year old) 53.7%
Cask 428/ Dist: 1981 Btl: 2008/ Tasted: Aug 2008
This is another in a long line of excellent casks of Dallas Dhu that they have bottled. The aromas just pronounce it to be a classicHighland. Deep, rich and fruity (squishy yellow fruits – technical term that!) with that lovely hard granity edge. Loads of smooth spices bob just below the surface along with delightfully creamy oak, barley and a slight dunnage note.
The palate is unsurprisingly soft and delightfully smooth with squishy yellow fruit, apricot, banana and a slight floral note. It’s exotically oily, yet balanced superbly by the granity hard barley and alcohol. Lovely maturity, and don’t forget the oh so gentle spices!
Adding some water it is orange heaven! Pure Seville orange marmalade freshly shredded too! The oak is a little bit more prominent now and it brings out a lovely barley sweetness on the palate. The length is still awesome. A real classic!
Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Dallas Dhu 1975 (29 year old) 47.1%
Bourbon Cask 2484/ Dist: 1975 Btl: Feb 2005/ Tasted: March 2006
Lovely nose. Clean, honeyed orange fruit and soft spices rise from the glass. This has a superb depth of mature fruit, earth and vanilla.
Delicate, soft, succulent and mature. Full of honeyed malt fruit and a hint of wood tannins. Lovely mouth feel, delicately oily with gentle spice and a lively finish.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 