Dailuaine 16 Year Old - Flora and Fauna (70cl, 43%)
A Flora and Fauna official release from the Dailuaine distillery, a sherry matured 16 year old single malt.
Following on from the successful introduction of the Classic Malts range in 1988 (at the time only six expressions), United Distillers sought to build on this by releasing a further 22 single malts in 1991. These became affectionately known as the Flora & Fauna series, a term coined by whisky writer, Michael Jackson, in reference to their labels. The range showcased the lesser-seen distilleries from the company’s extensive portfolio at the time, with the intent of using collective branding to help them raise each other’s profiles. Despite four further additions in 2001, only a handful of these are still permanent distillery bottlings, making it a highly collectible series.
Dailuaine was at a time, in the 19th century, Speyside's largest distillery, and it was home to Scotland's first pagoda roofed kiln. That distillery perished in a fire however, in 1917. The newly rebuilt distillery was acquired by DCL (now Diageo) who used its "meaty" spirit as a filler for one of their many blends. As with many Diageo of the single malt operations in the Diageo portfolio, the Flora & Fauna release was Dailuaine's first ever distillery bottling. Despite being a fan favourite, this is still the only permanent official bottling available from the distillery.