B-21 Top Recommendation
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Today's offer epitomizes what makes the single-cask Scotch scene so compelling – stunning single malt juice from two insider's favorites with singular profiles that can't be duplicated. Two of Diageo's workhorse facilities that are known mostly to industry insiders and cult Scotch enthusiasts, Auchroisk and Dailuaine are elusive even in the independent bottler market, so a chance at any cask is compelling a proposition indeed.
The 2010 Auchroisk Cask #172132's head-turning personality all starts with the distillery's signature, unpeated, heavyweight malt style and its classic honeyed cereal sweetness that comes with age, a result of rapid mashing, fermentation, and boiling in the wash stills during production. A whiskey of imposing weight and body, the Auchroisk style needs a special barrel that can stand up to the powerful profile, and a first-fill Jamaican rum barrel is just the ticket. It's the perfect marriage, because all the hallmark components are represented in clear, impeccable fashion, from the singular Speyside character of the distillery itself to the unmistakable influence of the top-tier Jamaican rum cask. The result, as B-21's Andrew Kitz describes it, is "something in a class all its own ... I can comfortably say I haven’t had anything like it in recent memory."
Stylistically different but every bit the showstopper as the Auchroisk, the 2010 Cask #310968 from Dailuaine should take every fan of sherry-cask Speyside to their happy place. "A tour de force of stellar Sherry character coupled with the classic dark, brooding intensity of Dailuaine’s distillate," this cask is not for the faint of heart, but it's not a chore to get into either. Despite the overt intensity of the flavor and aroma profiles, all the elements are so incredibly harmonious that it's somehow easy to go back to again and again. As Andrew notes, "if you’re looking for a stunning expression of one of Speyside’s most singular distillery styles, don’t miss it."
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