DYC 10 year old single malt whisky review

Distilerias y Crianza del Whisky (DYC) from Spain is one of the largest distilleries in the world, currently a subsidiary of Beam Suntory. DYC was founded in 1958 by Nicomedes Garcia Gomez. Gomez started working on his father’s small liquour distillery at Valverde del Majano in Segovia. 50 years later DYC’s capacity is huge, a two-plant complex producing 20 million liters of whisky annually (world’s best selling single malt Glenfiddich produces 10 million liters per year). Although the actual DYC output is somewhere over 2 million liters. So most of their whisky is going under different blended whisky brands.

DYC is famous in Spain for making inexpensive whisky – something light which goes well with ice and is suitable for summer under Spanish sun. DYC’s production was limited to blends and non-age stated whiskies until 2010, when they released this 10 year old single malt. Matured in American oak (Ex-Bourbon casks) for 10 years, it still is reasonably priced. Or should I say cheap, you can get it for 25 euros which nowadays is a big bargain when buying single malt. And usually a major alarm sign for something not so good.

The 2010 release of DYC 10 year old single malt was stated as the first installment of their limited edition whiskies and in 2013 they released second installments. So we are talking about premium expression, even though the price doesn’t say so. This second release with redesigned label was sold for around 15€!

Distilerias y Crianza del Whisky has 5 different whiskies in their range:

• DYC Blended Whisky
• DYC 5 – Blended Whisky aged five years in American oak
• DYC 8 – Blended Whisky aged eight years in American oak
• DYC Pure Malt – Blended Malt without age statement
• DYC 10 – Single Malt aged ten years

DYC 10 gets Cheaper by the Dozen

So I guess it’s needless to say that The DYC 10YO gets “Cheaper by the Dozen”. The bottle and label is stylish with proper wooden cork stopper. The whisky is made using local, specially chosen Castillian-Leonese barley. And the whisky has been aged for 10 years in American oak bourbon casks. But unfortunately the taste is not good enough. As a bargain hunter and a huge lover of reasonably priced good whisky, I would’ve loved DYC 10 to taste good. Or even okay. Unfortunately it tastes mediocre. I think it’s even below average.

Destilerias y Crianza del Whisky means “distilling and maturation of whisky” in English. With this 10YO single malt, the maturation could have been better. DYC is the best selling whisky in Spain and usually their products are being consumed fast with Coca Cola. Too bad that this single malt is closer to those drams.

DYC 10YO Scoring