DYC

DYC is short for Distilerías y Crianza del Whisky (distilleries and maturation of whisky). It is a Spanish distillery, located in the wonderful city of Segovia near Madrid. It was founded in 1959 and has a massive capacity – 2 times Glenfiddich. In their home country they have a market share of nearly 50%. This is their standard DYC blend.

As the letters are not pronounced individually, think twice before ordering this in English!

DYC (40%, OB 2010)

Nose: fresh and fragrant, with a simple, malty character. Very youngish. Vanilla and melon. Soft oak. A bit synthetic but certainly not disgusting. In typical Spanish weather, this works fine.

Mouth: very sweet start on powder sugar. Vanilla again, some fruity notes with a very soft peppery edge. Then it grows too synthetic and the flavours are overblown by industrial alcohol (think cheap vodka). Ice cubes help in this respect.

Finish: very short, very sweet with a slightly nasty aftertaste.

This DYC is supposed to be mixed or at least chilled with ice, so I didn’t expect anything. It costs € 8 in Spain (with a free bottle of Coca-Cola taped to it when you’re lucky) yet I never felt the urge to pour it away. That’s an achievement already. When you’re in the mood for Spanish whisky, I’d rather recommend the DYC Pure Malt (€ 15) or the 10yo ‘Collección Barricas’ – a single malt version, which is much more interesting and still very cheap (around € 20).

Score: 60/100