Daftmill 2011
Summer Batch 2024 Release | 46% ABV
Eeny Meeny Miny Fomo
Oh to be a kid again. When I was a lad, one of my favourite memories was being taken to Toys ‘R’ Us for my birthday to pick out something from the latest Star Wars range. Those aisles were crammed with the kind of shiny and enticing packages that sent eight year old me into ecstasy. And don’t get me started on the boxes with the ‘Try Me’ buttons; gamechangers.
(Also, UK folk, good luck getting the Toys ‘R’ Us theme earworm out of your head now - you’re welcome).
The never-ending problem was always wanting more. Whilst I had a lot of these moulded plastic pieces at home; Snowspeeders, Millenium Falcon and Tie-Fighters, I needed more, of course I did, and Hasbro, Mattel and Micro Machines were there and ready to slake my George Lucas-fuelled lust. And please bear in mind; this was the 1990s, we didn’t need to wash out yoghurt pots and have four different bins back then, plastic was still our friend.
Sometimes it was the small details: does that X-Wing fire red plastic laser beams via a little mechanism hidden away somewhere? Does this Tie-Bomber make movie-authentic battle noises? Is there a dissect-at-home TaunTaun set? (Which, when you think about it, combines both Star Wars geekery and biology – it’s practically educational). Let’s be honest though, as I look back, a lot of the time it was just the same old stuff in new packaging.
Many years later, whilst my parents are celebrating the sudden windfall of cash they have from not having to spend money on young Logan’s Star Wars addiction, I’m facing exactly the same issue in whisky. I’ve been drinking the stuff for close to twenty years now and whilst there are still some gems to be found, things have become a bit, well… samey. It’s like wandering the aisles of the toy store again trying to decide between thousands of items that have ultimately become very similar, and at the same time a lot more expensive.
A bit like I touched on in my unhinged whisky counselling session the other week; I’m struggling somewhat in figuring out what bottles to spend my money on. The shelves at home and in retailers (and warehouses we hear) are creaking under the strain. One thing I think we can all probably say we’ve suffered from at some point in life, and not only in whisky, is this sense of FOMO or Fear of Missing Out. Now, I’m not sat here typing away to bring you any kind of analysis or peer review paper as to what quantifies FOMO but I think we all get the gist.
I myself have been hugely guilty of the ‘shut up and take my money’ mindset, particularly since the pandemic. Not spending money on commuting or holidays? Whisky it is. Boxes turned up at the door so frequently that I quickly became on first name terms with every major UK courier company: DPD Dan, DHL Dean, Evri Evan, Yodel Yasmin and even APC Alan. And on the rare occasions where I didn’t recognise the driver, a rotating vocabulary consisting of ‘mate’, ‘pal, ‘chief’ and ‘bud’ sufficed. Come to think of it, I wonder if Dan ever finished his new bathroom?
Anyway, as I used couriers to sate my need for human connection my whisky collection swelled like the bank account of a Wall Street gilet-toting finance bro. We’ve also witnessed opportunistic distilleries release a hell of a lot of whisky over the last few years, hence the fantastically well-received article by our very own Fletch.
My resolve over the last twelve months has certainly hardened in this respect. I have other things more important than just enjoyment of spirits that cry out for funding, things such as literally just living life. I’ve become really selective, choosing to not chase down bottles as I once did. During the Lockdown years, I regularly zipped across the digital ‘Galaxy Far Far Away’ jumping at light-speed from one online retailer to another hunting down those pesky Rebel bottles that always seemed to slip through my fingers.
However, an exception was made for the latest Daftmill release. The small Fife-based distillery launched itself into our Whiskyverse to great aplomb just a few years back and I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to buy a bottle of their 2009 Summer release in a previous Berry Bros & Rudd ballot. Yes, I ‘won’ the chance to pay for something, because of course we live in a time where some releases have to be rationed like butter and sugar in 1940’s Britain.
I like Lowland whisky but until recently there wasn’t a lot of competition to Glenkinchie and Auchentoshan who had been the region’s stalwarts and the only distilleries flying the flag for the region. Bladnoch made an occasional return, and Rosebank has since come back on stream. But in the last ten to fifteen years alone we’ve seen the introduction of Ailsa Bay, Glasgow, Annandale, Kingsbarns, Lochlea, Clydeside, Holyrood and Lindores Abbey, with more to follow. Daftmill predates these newcomers, with their licence to distil alcohol granted almost twenty years ago now, in 2005.
The small farm distillery has become something of a sensation in whisky circles with any and all releases selling out immediately, in many cases to be found at auction sites less than a week later. It’s somewhat of an odd twist of fate that Daftmill is classified as a Lowland whisky – not that regions are really seen with the same importance as they were in the blender’s days of the past - as the distillery actually sits further north than Highland distilleries like Deanston, Loch Lomond and Glengoyne.
All barley used in the distillation process is grown on the working farm side of the business and, if Clarkson’s Farm has taught us anything, this farming lark isn’t an easy occupation. The charmingly agricultural barn that makes Daftmill’s still house has a 20,000 litre production capacity which easily cements it as one of Scotland’s smallest malt distilleries and another reason as to why their releases are highly sought-after.
Production only takes place in the quiet periods for farming during summer and winter. There’s a very cradle-to-grave approach to production that links the farm and the distillery, with the draff and used grains going on to feed to the on-site beef herd. The pot ale is also used as fertiliser in the fields, alongside other byproducts produced by said beef herd, to help grow barley in the very same fields. The circle of life ay?
The tiny distillery has always focussed on its whisky and unlike other new start-ups, they didn’t release non-aged spirits such as vodka or gin in the build up to their first whisky releases in 2018 which, after a twelve year wait, naturally sold out faster than you could say “please send direct to scotchwhiskyauctions.com”.
For me that’s a positive, it’s not easy to fund a whisky distillery, you’re sitting on your investment for years before you’ll see a return. In this case much longer than the three year minimum that you see most new distilleries use as the yardstick for chucking their often under-matured spirits into glass. Daftmill has shown it can be done, done well, and on a small scale too.
Review
Daftmill 2011, Summer Batch 2024 Release, 6,550 bottles, 46% ABV
£100 and very limited availability
This release is the largest so far. The 6,550 bottles compares to my only other reference point, the 2009 Summer release of 1,875 bottles. That’s quite the jump. All told though, 6.5k is still small compared to other distilleries and their so-called ‘limited release/limited edition/small batch/ultra rare/not quite as rare but still sort of rare’ outturns.
Whilst bemoaning the lack of availability or prior releases, this one hung around for quite a while on Master of Malt - where I picked my bottle up. Other retailers such as RMW and The Good Spirits co sold out pretty quickly but they likely had smaller allocations. At the time of writing it’s still available at some of the off-the-beaten-track websites, albeit slightly over RRP.
The barley for this release is of the Publican variety, it was grown on the farm and harvested on the 28th and 29th September 2009. After distillation in 2011, the spirit was then filled into 27 first-fill bourbon casks from, what I believe to be, the Jim Beam distillery before being bottled in September 2023.
Nose
Quite tight initially. Over-ripened orchard fruit, heavy on the spice. An almost rum-like vanilla and coconut sugar (which sounds very Waitrose but hey-ho). Black pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon mingle with some more of that vanilla. Over time the nose opens further to show buttered madeira cake and pineapple cubes.
Palate
Good oily texture. Initially very creamy with more vanilla to boot. Spices make a sudden return with more of that fresh ground black pepper from the nose. Gum tinglingly peppery. A flash of tart green apple. Aniseed/star anise towards the back lead to a long, warm and spicy finish with an incredibly sweet golden syrup-like vein running through the centre.
The Dregs
Maybe I was spoiled by my previous experience with Daftmill or maybe I’ve become particularly pernickety since I last tried it, but this release, whilst enjoyable, didn’t quite carry the same sense of joy or cohesiveness. It didn’t feel like a treat or a special occasion, it felt a little bit flat and that makes me sad. Maybe I expected too much? I can already see at the time of writing that this has a score of 87 on Whiskybase with 5 reviews. Whilst a small sample size, maybe it’s a sign of things to come and I’m in the minority.
The nose was quite enticing and ticked a fair few of my geeky boxes but I can’t help but feel that the palate was a case of ‘coming in hot’ rather than ‘forget me not’. I’m also acutely aware that I mentioned vanilla three or four times, and there are those that see it as a generic flavour, but we are dealing with first fill bourbon casks after all. Plus, vanilla is the best flavour of ice cream - don’t fight me on this.
The positive here is that more people will have been able to access this release due to the higher bottle numbers rather than a large swathe being resold, hoarded or sent to auction meaning more people may have been able to try a previously unattainable whisky for the first time.
Yet for me, this has been yet another lesson in holding on, weighing up the pros and cons and taking a breath before punching in card details. I still like Daftmill as a whisky and a concept as a whole and will continue to keep my eye on this great little distillery. But for me, I just didn’t get a £100 of enjoyment out of this single bottle than I would have from, say, two £50 bottles or even one £70 malt and a cheap and cheerful £30 blend. It begs the question; at what point does the cash to enjoyment ratio start to stray from one another?
Anyway on the plus side, this isn’t moulded plastic. It’s growing things, be it crops or a whisky brand, and there will always be periods where things appear a bit bare and underwhelming. But, soon enough, green shoots of promise will reappear, bringing further opportunities for enjoyment.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. LMc