Price: £103
Purchased From: The Whisky Exchange
ABV: 46%
I’ve wanted to try Daftmill for some time, but it’s one of those distilleries that is hard to find in Australia, and when you do it’s at absurd pricing. It was on my list for a while as a potential UK purchase when I was next over there. I was glad to find The Whisky Exchange had plenty in stock when I was last there, including the 15-year-old 2007 release.
Matured in 1st-fill ex-Bourbon barrels, 12-years-old, non-chill filtered and natural colour. It looks like The Whisky Club was able to get an allocation of this for a July 2026 add-in at $260, which is not a bad price all things considered.
Nose
Fresh citrus. Lemon and orange. Also vanilla, pineapple and slight fresh hay notes. As mentioned in my About section, I’m no expert on the nose, but even I can tell this is a Lowland style.
Taste
Everything on the nose and more. The fruits certainly take centre stage with pineapple, apricot, watermelon. The vanilla comes through after and the mouthfeel is wonderful and viscous. The finish is quite light, but it does linger for a while with slight pepper notes coming through. I found this didn’t need water.
Conclusion
This was worth the wait. You can tell this distillery is producing some great spirit along with good wood maturation. This is exactly what you’d expect from a fresh and fruity 1st-fill. The UK price on these is amazing value if you can get one without having to get hit with import taxes. As mentioned above, The Whisky Club has secured this as an add-in for July and at the time of writing this it was still available.