Daftmill sits on a working farm near Cupar in Fife, where the Cuthbert family grow the barley, raise the cattle, and distil only in the quiet weeks of summer and winter when the farm permits. Francis and Ian Cuthbert built the distillery in a converted steading in 2005, and famously refused to release a drop until they judged the spirit ready — the first bottling appeared in 2018, after more than a decade of patient maturation.
The 2010 Summer Release is exactly what its name suggests: spirit distilled in the slack period between hay-making and harvest, then matured in first-fill bourbon casks until it reached the Cuthberts' standard. Bottled at 46 percent without chill-filtration or colouring, it speaks plainly of its origins — Lowland in the old sense, before the region became a curiosity. There is grass and grain and orchard fruit here, the unhurried character of a malt that has never been rushed.
Daftmill's annual releases are small and quickly absorbed by the secondary market, which is a pity, because the whisky deserves to be drunk rather than traded. It is a quiet, well-made dram that rewards attention and asks nothing in return.
