I was given a sample of this by a colleague, who did a great job of praising the Tailfire as an enormously affordable quality Scotch. I'm doing this review with that bias in mind, for better or worse. Apparently "tailfire" is a sort of fly used to catch salmon. I hope there are no hints of fish one the nose of this one.
Deep gold, 0.8, with coloring.
Nose
Sticking my nose into the tasting glass, I'm greeted with fresh fruits and citrus. A crip and pleasant whisky judging by the first sniff. I didn't expect any particularly deep and complex aromas, and there are not many to be found.
Palate
Fruity up front. It's easy to overuse the word "smooth" when reviewing whiskies, but it is smooth. Fruits give way to a velvety mouthfeel and a big, sweet flavor.
Finish
Wood, of the vanilla and toffee variety. A super light alcohol burn that fades quickly. The sweetness takes over but doesn't last long as the finish says goodbye as fast as it can. Too bad, but not unexpected.
I'll have to agree with my co-worker, the bang-for-the-buck factor here is off the charts. I try not to factor in the price in my reviews, but it's reeeeally hard when I know how relatively cheap a bottle of Tailfire is. For reference, it's 30% cheaper than a bottle of Balvenie DoubleWood 12y, and even a bit cheaper than the go-to cost-effective blend Monkey Shoulder. At least here in Sweden. I like my whiskies sweet, and the Tailfire certainly does a good job of hitting that profile. Affordability and nice sweetness aside - it is certainly not a super interesting or a surprising dram. It's simple, sweet, quiet and affordable.
Score
76 / 100
0-50 Subpar
51-60 Drinkable
61-70 Decent
71-80 Good
81-90 Great
91-100 Fantastic
| Country | Scotland |
|---|---|
| Region | Speyside |
| Brand | Singleton |
| Distillery | Glendullan |
| Title | Tailfire |
| Abv (%) | 40 |
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