Singleton of Dufftown 15 Years Old (2019)
I don’t get The Singleton. It’s like Diageo was thinking: “We’re the biggest producer of Scotch whisky, yet there’s no way we’re ever going to beat Glenfiddich or Glenlivet in terms of sales. Let’s combine three distilleries into one brand and hope for the best — maybe that’ll get us the number one Scottish malt whisky spot.”
Actually, that’s probably exactly what they thought. Just take a look at this top 10 of best-selling Scotch malt whiskies. I can’t imagine that if you split the 518,000 cases of The Singleton among Dufftown, Glen Ord and Glendullan that Diageo would have a distillery in the top 10. Which is very odd, right? How can Diageo not have a single distillery big enough to outsell Glen Grant — the current number 10.
Anyway, after this prelude I really don’t feel like reviewing The Singleton of Dufftwon 15 Years Old, but I guess I’ve already written the tasting note, and I’m not one to waste a good tasting note.
Singleton of Dufftown 15 Years Old (40%, OB, 2019)
Nose: Shy notes of toffee, apples and oranges. Somewhat dusty, a hint of chalk even.
Taste: Somewhat creamy, with more notes of toffee, burnt caramel and apples, accompanied by a zingy pepperiness and slight oaky bitterness.
Finish: Lingering caramel and spices. Short to medium.
Score: 80
Not exciting yet decent whisky. Inoffensive pretty much sums up this whisky — and I don’t see how something like this will ever surpass Glenlivet, Glenfiddich AND Macallan. I’ll down an entire bottle of The Singleton of Dufftown before that ever happens.
Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.
Leave a Reply