DYC 15yo Single Malt
Spanish Single Malt | 40% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average. In a good way.
TL;DR
Surprisingly good, if a little sweet and simple.
A Surge in Demand or a Just a Surge in Price?
Dramface is six months old today, but before I direct you to a fun page sharing some achievements during our short existence, I’ve been thinking about perhaps the most important reason for us being here; relevance.
I’m sure like me, you have found yourself questioning how much things are costing these days. It could be the discovery that a bottle of Talisker 18yo leapt from around £80 in November to £175 in July, or perhaps something a little more mundane and less of a luxury item; such as my favourite croissant going from 70p to £1 in the same timeframe. It seems the surge in costs is as bad as I’ve ever known it - wherever I look.
Don’t worry. I am not glossing over that 218% Talisker price jump. I’m just getting started.
As prices rise in general, I’ll assume you’re also feeling the pinch. Surely luxuries will be one of the first things to suffer during such times? Maybe I’ll be back to plain toast with my coffee and my croissant will become an occasional treat at best? I mean, how will I survive?
I jest. But let’s be clear, we’re talking about an essential food group and a bottle of lavish indulgence for the few. During these days with the war in Ukraine, surging living costs, a lack of true recovery from a global pandemic and an impending energy crisis I can somewhat understand why my baked goods are suddenly a lot more expensive. Yet, despite my best efforts, I simply cannot fathom a justification of any sort for Diageo’s new weighty tag hanging from the neck of their ubiquitous 18yo. None. It is unintelligible. It is ugly. It is cynicism unchained and the message conveyed within it is clear; it is not for me anymore.
Despite Talisker’s 18yo being widely celebrated and much admired, it has always been somewhat affordable. In 2021 Royal Mile Whiskies was the first of many retailers to step forward and support the inaugural and independent Online Scotch Whisky Awards. This meant that they would freeze the pricing for all nominations until the year end, helping to alleviate fears that the initiative would be used to gouge in the face of potentially higher demand. In fact, RMW went further with the already nominated Talisker 18yo - they dropped the price to £78.95 and kept it on offer after it was nominated. Fair play. Integrity is not as common as we might hope, so let’s call it out when we see it. Still, I’m sure they made money, as did Diageo. At the point of writing, it is still that price on their site today, although sold out.
So what has happened since? Well, some of the rumours we initially heard over winter have turned out to be true, if a little inaccurate. The bottle now appears at another online retailer for £175. I need to consider; why?
This liquid was produced - at least - eighteen years ago, so it’s not the rise in the price of grain. While there is increased costs in materials, packaging, logistics and everything else associated with getting it from Skye to shelf, there’s nothing that justifies whacking a ton on to the asking price. Maybe it’s because it has suddenly become very rare? Maybe there’s some truth in the notion that there’s a ‘hole’ in the stocks for a while? Pull the other one. Temporary discontinuation? Yes. More than doubling the price? No. Just no. Talisker has remained in relatively steady production and - when operating at capacity - can turn out up to three million litres of pure alcohol per annum.
Maybe it’s what many may suggest; mature scotch whisky has been ’undersold’ for years and a correction is inevitable. Once more, I’m biting my expletive-laden tongue at this nonsense. There’s been a steady ‘correction’ over the last three decades and it is now a lucrative, high-margin category - especially at this age range and upwards.
I’m afraid what we see here is simply positioning and optics. This is now transitioning into an elevated position of ‘luxury item’ through a teeny fettling of the label, a randomly absurd new agency-sourced, what-the-market-will-stand price tag and I’ll bet they’re not suddenly adding any better or older liquid in the mix, so not a jot of effort to bump up the quality. Oh, and the need to help recoup squillions of Sterlings lavished on visitor ‘experiences’ across Scotland and beyond. It’s cynicism, sure, but Macallan pulled it off so why not Talisker?
The problem here is that it smarts. For whisky drinkers who grew to love Talisker, a jump in price like this really cuts deep. For most, it takes it out of reach. True fans are lost and it’ll be harder to recruit replacements.
So, once more, despite more scotch whisky in existence than there has ever been - with more on the way than anyone can keep count of - the surge in pricing shows us it knows no end. Is this - genuinely - in response to actual demand? Of course not. It’s a play to create it. Nothing claims exclusivity more quickly than making it affordable to only a few.
So what do we do? Well, we do exactly what will be expected. We move on.
To Talisker 10yo? To a NAS release or perhaps their new travel retail release - Talisker Surge? Wait…what? They called it Surge? I’m not kidding. They did. As in, swell, or increase abruptly, from the latin surgere; to rise. Don’t you feel like someone, somewhere is having a giggle seeing just how far they can take this?
So no. We don’t encourage it and, sadly, we turn our backs on the entire thing because it’s not a bottle that is causing this, it’s not the liquid, it’s not the distillery on Skye, it’s a mindset. It’s direction and policy. It’s putrid and it shouldn’t be encouraged. Please don’t hoard either; the quicker you wean yourself off this the better, without rewarding them with sales spikes or nostalgic loyalty. The loyalty they’ve just betrayed. Thank you for your service.
“Just like creaky knees, defiance sets in with age.”
Where else then? Yes, I could take you to loads of other places and even to a spot in the Western Highlands that I recently suggested is making something that’s very much like a very good Talisker. But today, we’ll go further.
As I headed away for holiday this year I went through that same Global Travel Retail experience where we’ll soon be offered bottles of Talisker Surge. But, so disappointed in the way whisky is being represented there, I just walked on through. I bought nothing. For the second or third time recently, I found only dull followed by duller and as soon as I spotted anything that piqued a modicum of curiosity a gut punch was dealt from the shelf label as I was informed that I couldn’t afford it. C’est la vie.
Instead, arriving in Albacete city, I sought out a spirits store and went in for a gander. The prices for bottles of scotch were on par with home (unfortunately, Germany and The Netherlands are better hunting grounds for scotch bargains it seems). Greeted with young and enthusiastic staff, I hacked my way through an exchange with my comedic Spanish as we talked about prices and flavour. Before I exhausted my limited vocabulary, they took me towards the bottle I’m sharing with you today; from a limited edition run in 2019 of 12,000 bottles globally. This is to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Spain’s DYC, their oldest expression to date; the Colección Maestros Destiladores 15yo Single Malt.
I know you may see this as a protest purchase. Well, you’d be correct. Just like creaky knees, defiance sets in with age.
However, as I tackle this odd review to mark our six-month point, let me declare this is why Dramface and outlets like it are so important today. This purchase could go either way, or it may settle somewhere in the middle, it’s a gamble. Wouldn’t you prefer to gamble with my money?
As the prices rise, more ‘Dramfaces’ are needed. Things need to be called out. The independent voice will build in relevance with each new release, each new industry manoeuvre and each new price hike. The actions of some to benefit the many.
Are your other review outlets (for whisky and beyond) funded like Dramface; by the community who benefits from it?
Review
DYC (or Destilerías y Crianza del Whisky S.A.) is very well-established and currently operating as a subsidiary of Beam Suntory. Producing spirit since 1959, it makes most of what’s needed domestically and it focuses on that market for its whisky, vodka and rum. In recent times, it has moved from blended whisky and pure malt (using imported whisky mixed with domestic) into its own single malt. They are able to produce more than ten million litres of whisky annually, with two million litres of that being single malt from their six copper pot stills. They currently have in excess of a quarter million casks maturing on site. Not a small concern.
DYC Colección Maestros Destiladores 15yo Single Malt, 40% ABV
Available across Spain, occasionally released elsewhere but buy it locally while you’re there for €30. Yes; fifteen year old malt for £27.
Nose
Sweet caramel and butterscotch over tinned fruit salad. In syrup. Yes, it’s sweet. Awfy sweet. Sitting with it longer brings out more ways to describe the sweetness; icing sugar and glazed cherries atop empire biscuits. Almonds sit behind a little light acetone. The gentlest of spices swirl with a drop or two of water, but yeah - they’re also sweet.
Palate
I don’t want to be lazy here, but take the nose and paste it here. It is on the palate as it presents on the nose. But there’s a surprise, especially for Wally. It’s not sickly. It is most definitely sweet, but it’s easy, very easy, to enjoy. The tinned fruit thing is amped on the palate - especially ripe peaches. I poured a few in a copita, but tonight it’s in the blender’s glass just to see if it’ll pick out any other complexities, but not really. Without water the texture is simple and clean and in no way thin - just not very grippy. Water does switch things but not positively and overall I’m happier without.
The Dregs
Oh how I wish - especially for limited releases such as this - there was confidence to put this out at a higher ABV. I think this would pack so much more flavour, grip and spice to compete nicely with the sweet fruit and almond that we’d have a very capable and interesting whisky - at a great price still. Despite this, you may be surprised how easily it sweeps aside the Cardhu and Knockdhu or other low ABV scotch offerings it competes with in Spain. I also believe that there is very little chance of anyone picking this out as anything other than a scotch single malt, it’s a faithful replica. All it needs to start claiming kudos points is some attitude and confidence. For the price, it offers insane value. It might not wipe out its scotch competition, but I bet it could kill off a lot of that travel retail dilution and greed.
Unless… who owns it? Beam Suntory. Ah. Never mind.
Still, this is my modus operandi when travelling abroad from here on in. I don’t want to be part of Scotch’s continued “surge” of cynicism - mostly because, increasingly, I can’t afford it.
Here’s the link to that page of Dramface at six months I promised. I really hope you enjoy and share.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. WMc
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