The Adelphi Selection Dailuaine 14 Year Old (54.1%)

Tasting notes:
On the nose, this 14 Year Old Dailuaine from Adelphi presents with notes of anise flan and copper gutters after a spring rain, but not together, because anise flan in a copper gutter after a spring rain is simply too improbable. It’s also simultaneously fudge-y and floral, like someone bred tonka beans and vanilla beans, then used the resulting franken-bean with perfumed rose petals to make a penuche fudge–and then served it in a dish from your grandmother’s powder room. At first, John misheard “penuche” as “Belushi” and followed up with the obvious question: “John or Jim?” This nose would be John, slicing the fudge cleanly with a ninja sword.

The mouth effervesces effortlessly in a way that recalled the ionized air of the nose. We were happy to find a little mank on the mouth as well: gave it a meatiness, a chewiness that adds substantially to the experience. Add a little water, and some brine surges forward to assert itself.

We got to the finish and found it still hot, still effervescent, not unlike Lisa Kudrow. We also found notes from the twilight stage of apple juice as it ferments into pre-cider. John got a bit of turpentine on the finish, but then again, he heard “penuche” as “Belushi,” so take that for what you will. Overall, though, the finish is chewy, like a chicle twig. You guys are getting that, too, right?

     

 

Rating:
On the scale of gutter solutions–

The Dailuaine Adelphi Selection 14 Year Old (54.1%) is mesh gutter covers–To be clear, we’re not talking about solutions for gutters in the sense of sewers, but rather in the sense of those things that catch and redirect water as it rolls off of a roof. Mesh gutter covers are an affordable, remarkably effective solution to keeping out things that can clog up gutter drainage systems, like leaves, branches, and the odd flan. 

   

   

                                                                                      —Stephen