It’s time for some catching up to do. I still have this, and one other guest post by Tom waiting to be published, so let’s do one today and try to not wait too long with the other one (which has been sitting in my inbox since the dawn of creation).

It’s a two part post, so this one is for today. The other one is for tomorrow.

Dornoch Distillery is, in my mind, after visiting the site in 2019, that quaint little operation in an old fire station in the back garden of Dornoch Castle. The Thompson brothers quietly doing their thing, creating new old-fashioned whisky like real nerds, without any pressure or purpose other than to fully enjoy it. Since the first few releases of Dornoch single malt whisky, we know these men and their output are a force to be reckoned with. This harking back to old days and old methods of whisky making is what a certain group of nerds crave for, and the Thompson brothers deliver. Availability is a problem of course, so limited is the supply that it is very hard to get your hand on a bottle. My cabinet filled up with no less than 4 samples, and we will taste them in two flights. Today on the menu: sister casks from 2017!

Dornoch 2017-2022 for Dominiek Bouckaert, First Fill Bourbon Octave, 53,8%

The name Dominiek Bouckart makes me think of one of my favorite bottlings of Tomatin 1976. Let us see if this Dornoch has this extremely fruity character as well! This is cask #9.

Sniff:
This is truly amazing, and it might be just the power of suggestion, but there is a fruitiness coming from the glass that is not too far removed from legendary BenRiach and Tomatin from golden vintages! There is also a hint of nail polish remover. Then the fruit returns, overripe tangerines mostly. Very abundant and balanced, truly lovely. Water reveals the core ingredient of malted barley, which adds a layered complexity.

Sip:
The mouthfeel is very big, like sticky toffee pudding. Coating the entire mouth. The wood influence from the octave cask is prominent, bordering on over the top, but it works. Lots of herbal impressions and definitely orange juice. Underlying is a robust Highland character that I have come to look for in whisky, since I feel it is a disappearing aspect in modern-day whisky. A drop of water makes the whisky more bitter tasting, here is where you feel the wood too much.

Swallow:
Equally sticky and lingering, almost insane, such maturity in a young whisky. Very clean.

88/100

Only a 2 cl sample, but wishing for a bottle.

Dornoch 2017-2022 for the Scottish market, First Fill Bourbon Octave, 55,91%

This bottling was filled from cask #13. Poured the samples a little while before tasting, and the glasses are just screaming to be picked up and relished.

Sniff:
This one has a hard time following the Belgian one, with less fruit and more on a chemical note. Those wet nails again, just colored bright red. Nice on the lady, less so in the glass. Almost a grain whisky. Digging a little deeper I get some pine needles on dry forest floor. Certainly a more “serious” face on this sample. With water, funnily enough, the reverse effect compared to the previous sample. Now fruity notes do come out to seduce.

Sip:
More oily than sticky this time, and the wood is much more present. This is the beauty of whisky maturation. These whisky’s are optically exactly the same, but in the glass quite different. The wood was more active and puts a pronounced dark chocolate stamp on this particular Dornoch. Water brings more balance and this nice tropical fruit note.

Swallow:
Mostly on dark coffee and chocolate notes, very woody. With water it becomes smooth and sophisticated.

84/100

An extremely schizophrenic dram, water making all the difference.

About Tom van Engelen

I’m a writer in a variety of fields and have a soft spot for whisky, mainly malt, mainly from Scotland. In other times I enjoyed a stint as editor-in-chief of one of the first whisky magazines in the world. When not sipping a good glass I like to write some more, read, watch 007 movies or listen Bowie music. I’m married to Dasha, I have a sweet daughter and I live somewhere between the big rivers in the middle of The Netherlands.