Daftmill - Single Farm Estate Lowland Single Malt Scotch Summer Batch Release
The new release of Daftmill's wonderful single estate Lowland Malt. Francis and Ian Cuthbert are making the most compelling malts in all of Scotland. They are the only operational farm distillery committed to using exclusively their own grown malt with whisky to sell (more distilleries in this mold are in the works, but still too young).
They began production in 2005 but didn't get cranking until 2006. During the farm's quiet periods in the mid-summer and the winter they fire up the stills and make whisky from their own harvest. The purity and intensity of these whiskys is unmatched. The care and attention to detail is extraordinary. Often they produce only about 100 casks/year. That's less than a single shift's production at many large distilleries.
This batch was produced by marrying four casks, all filled in June and July 2009. While previous batches in the US have been exclusively bourbon cask matured, this is the first vatting to bring sherry into the mix.
Nose: Lactic, fruity, farm like notes and grassy. A bit like having a raspberry – vanilla yogurt on top of a very wet ball of hay, or something. Quite restrained, even a bit closed and definitely less outspoken on farmyard notes than my previous encounters with Daftmill.
Taste: Nice, full, lactic creamy arrival. An earthy, limestone, chalk like element alongside hints of grass and again the farmyard element. Notes of coffee and treacle with perhaps a bit of wood charr to it. Medium full, dry mouthfeel.
Finish: Quite long, becoming increasingly woody and drying