It’s always an exciting day to have the first whisky review of a distillery here on Whisky Gospel and today is such an occurrence – and from a distillery that released their first whisky only last summer after almost 12 years – Daftmill distillery.
Daftmill distillery is a farm distillery owned bu Cuthbert family and is located in the lowlands region (the most expanding whisky region of the last decade!). The distillery is running in the farm’s quiet periods (midsummer and winter – hence the summer/winter releases).
Daftmill 2006 Summer Batch Release was the first wide spread release after the inaugural release, Chariot barley harvested in August 2004 from their Dam Park & Curling Pond fields was used and after distillation in it was filled into first fill Ex-bourbon casks from Heaven Hill in Kentucky before being bottled in 2018 after 11 years.
Daftmill 2006 Summer Batch Release (46%, 1665 bottles)
credit: whiskishop.com
Nose: Feels young at first with sweet barley and generous dash of honey & lemon. Vanilla, barley sugar, pears, floral with jasmine and white rose petals but the nose also picked along some chemicals like varnish and polish remover. Continue reading
Nose: Soft and rich, winey with tannins, raisins and figs, dried red fruit with lots of blackberries, almonds and hazelnuts chocolate, honey and nutmeg, very velvety. 
Nose: lively and kicking but also very fresh. There can be no doubt this is a Caol Ila with all those classic Caol Ila notes: lemon, honey, seafood and seaweed, sweet peat but there’s also saltiness and bitter almonds to balance the sweetness.
Nose: You feel the Mortlachness here with dense and heavy nose, hazelnuts, fresh grapefruit peels and juice, bread-y, dough, fresh Granny Smith apples, vanilla and a big dash of honey. 
Nose: Bubblegum, very wild and not very Glenmorangie like, malt, I would swear it’s a distilled beer, orange, nuts in the background and a bit of freshness. After a few minutes more nuts and menthol, pears, pine forest, very beer-y. With a few drops of water it’s fruitier and there’s fresh beer froth. A unique nose (especially for Glenmorangie). 
Nose: Honey and wax, yellow plums and pears, very fruity with rich fruit juice. dusty (or perhaps powdery), very dense and intense for 46% whisky. After a short while even some tropical fruits, nutmeg, becoming orchard with added floral side to the fruitiness. 
Nose: Sweet honey, wax and vanilla, feels quite spirity – a bit surprising considering the malts age and composite but we should remember that age isn’t everything in whisky. Green peaches and pears, brioche with canned fruit. After a few minutes it gets dryer with oak spice but also getting notes of grass and meadow. 
Nose: Very smoky, blobs of vanilla and honey, then comes the BBQ meat with dripping sauce and coal smoke. The nose is quite sweet with sweet earthy peat and some sweetened bread. Greenery and fruitiness blossoms after a short while and smoke becomes drier. 
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