Kingsbarns Dream to Dram
Official Release | 46% ABV
Score: 7
/10
Very good indeed.
TL;DR
But, all good things must come to an end
It feels like a fading dream as you wake
Some whiskies have the power to really stick in your brain. From taking a first sip, you know that you’ll not quench the memory until you get your hands on a full bottle. It is all the sweeter when it not only lives up to the initial rose-tinted moment, but flies beyond it.
But, I work from a very tight whisky budget. It is what it is. Every purchase is agonised over, it’s almost part of the fun for me. After enjoying a sample of this former flagship single malt back in November 2022, the Kingsbarns Dream to Dram sat in the top third of my very expansive, but alas expensive, Whisky Wish-list.
Then, over a year ago now, like a dagger to my heart, in June 2023 it was announced they were retiring their Dream to Dram expression, the distillery's first core single malt release. Armed with the plan of grabbing a bottle once I’d scraped together some funds and breaking another self-imposed “no more bottles” ban, it was already gone.
While it may have stayed on the shelves for months, to me it felt like minutes. I now know the wretch in the gut that the Springbankers feel at every Campbeltown drop.
Yet six years after the initial release, going through my weekly Whisky Wish-List Price Checks, Google returned a result of Kingsbarns Dream to Dram in stock. Not only that, but it was on offer. Queue the 90s banger “Dreams” by Gabrielle.
From chatting with one of the fine folk behind Kinnaird Head Whiskies about their upcoming Birthday discount - and how that will make Ardnamurchan The Midgie the perfect price - it seemed fate allowed me to grab this bottle well below RRP. Even The Midgie will have to wait.
So after a speedy delivery of this I was pumped to crack it open asap and see if it lived up to that mental review I made all those years ago. Unfortunately the delivery date was a day where I would be driving in the evening so, after a little sniff, I waited till the next chance I got.
After hearing the tales of bottle shock, maybe it worked out for the best. I waited, and that first sip did not disappoint, as I will allude to later. Since I waited years for the bottle it is only fair to tease you a paragraph or two more.
Fast forward a week or two, this literal ‘dream’ dram in my glass, I found myself a fleeting pocket of time to sit down and put together a well overdue Dramface thought piece. Eyeing up my shelves to see what bottle I could weave a yarn around I grabbed three favourites only to see that I was too slow to the punch: Maker’s Mark - Dougie’s done it, Longrow Peated - Gallie’s got there first, before a Dramface Colonial pile-on more recently, and even Shackleton’s Blended Malt has been done twice! Where does a guy on a budget go?
So feeling slightly stumped, I started swinging in my well worn office chair, stopping to take a sip. Then it hit me. Bang. My knee on the desk.
Feeling sorry for myself I consoled with another deep sip. Surely this 2018 release has been covered already? But out of curiosity I typed the distillery into the all-knowing Dramface search bar. Kingsbarns Balcomie, the Cask Strength and a Distillery Reserve all covered with a brilliant Doog feature on the distillery itself. Yet no Dream to Dram.
Cross referencing the Dramface bible, our back-end, collaborative Review Tracker. No mention of D2D; another piece falls into place as I find my gap. As the superior marketing of the latest Marvel film has coined: LFG!
Except, as I am near the end of this preamble I start to question, do people actually care about a bygone bottle? [Yes, we do. WMc]
From Bell Rock to Coaltown the core range of this Lowland distillery has moved on and maybe I should too. I don’t think I have even tried the D2D replacement that is the Doocot. Yet as I listen closer to the lyrics of Gabrielle, who has been on repeat this whole time of writing. I can’t deny my feelings, because they are true… dreams can come true.
Review
Kingsbarns Dream to Dram, Lowland Single Malt, first-fill bourbon and first-fill STR (shaved, toasted & re-charred barriques), NAS, 46% ABV
£38.25 discontinued (and since replaced with Doocot)
With the music playing in the background, I’m struck by the origin story of this whisky and the distillery, it’s a cracker: a whisky-loving golf caddie in Fife decides a distillery nearby would be a good idea, and starts to pull together plans and funding. If you’re keen to know more about Doug Clement’s story, here’s a link to a Forbes article, which gives a decent synopsis of a very cool story.
Fifteen years on from his original idea, I sit here feeling very happy with the end product. I’ll raise this glass to the dreamers.
Score: 7/10
Very good indeed.
TL;DR
But, all good things must come to an end
Nose
A very ‘green’ nose with lots of dry cut grass and pears wafting from the first sip. The more you swirl the more it gives up a wide range from soft shortbread to a metallic school pencil tin full of shavings.
After diving in for a sip then returning the creamy elements start to build with a mixture of lumpy custard and sweet strawberry compote. The use of STR casks, which I enjoy, is certainly working it’s magic.
Palate
For me this is where this whisky really comes alive. A slightly abrasive first sip busts open the doors to a flood of sweet and sharp flavours: strawberry jam tarts dipped in milky tea, apple pies and cream and raspberry strudel completes a trifecta of berries in pastries. There is a slightly new make-driven banana note that underlines it all like a leftover banoffee pie.
It finishes with a coating on the tongue similar to a mouthful of fruit and nut milk chocolate which still somehow manages to feel fresh yet cloying. Oh and those pencil shavings are back.
The Dregs
Will I be able to get my hands on another bottle? With my meagre budget and patchy bottle availability, probably not, which may even add a little extra magic to each pour.
This was a new distillery releasing themselves to the world with one of the most accessible inaugural releases out there with a price tag half the heft of many others. Yet six years later it still stands strong in my personal ratings and many other folk seem to agree.
All that is left to do is pull my socks up and be brave as I plot to move on to their latest releases. Maybe they will re-release this profile again down the line.
Like Gabrielle, and Doug, I can dream.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. GG
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Other opinions on this:
Malt Review
The Dramble
Whiskybase
The Water of Life
Reddit
Words of Whisky
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