May 21, 2014

A trio of brand new indie Dalmore

Always a thrill to be able to try Dalmore’s usually magnificent spirit au naturel, without too much cabernety and/or Byassian (not Don, Gonzalez) influence. Without caramel too.

Dalmore 17 yo 1996/2014 (48.4%, Douglas Laing, Old Particular, refill hogshead, cask #DL10206, 139 bottles)

Colour: white wine (yeah!) Nose: well, this could have been distilled yesterday. Okay, five years ago. A blend of apple juice, barley water, pear juice, ale and one or two squeezed oranges, with just a little custard to tie everything up. There’s also a little waxy rubber, unless that would rather be rubbery wax, but that’s all an asset in this youthful context. A little fudge arising as well after five minutes. Werther’s. Mouth: oh lovely! It’s a tight and dense Dalmore, fruity and waxy, with plenty of marmalade, marzipan, barley syrup, a drop of sunflower oil… Is that all the stills’ flat tops? Perfect body. Finish: quite long, on marmalade and a little gingerbread. Comments: a muscular naked Dalmore (ahem). SGP:552 – 87 points.

Dalmore 17 yo 1996/2014 (53.5%, Single Cask Collection, bourbon hogshead, sherry finish)

Colour: straw. Nose: a bigger, slightly less bearish and rather more waxy version. It’s a little more complex as well, with herbs and grasses, fruit peelings and zests, teas… While as expected with Dalmore, oranges are playing first trumpets. With water: perfect. The DL minus the fudge. Mouth (neat): it’s the same whisky as the DL’s, just stronger, which doesn’t make much difference since it’s a big phat spirit. What’s not to love? With water: one word, fullness. Oh and oranges. Finish: same, for a long time. Comments: I think the sherry finish was hardly noticeable. We won’t complain at WF Towers. Anyway, further proof that Dalmore can be a true Highlander, rather than a ‘Speysider de salon’. Just try making sense of that. SGP:552 - 88 points.

Dalmore 37 yo 1976/2014 (46.2%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, butt, 150 bottles)

Launching a 36 yo Dalmore au naturel for a fair price is quite a coup methinks. Unless the whisky’s tired… Let’s see. Colour: straw (hurray!) Nose: it’s one of those very rare whiskies that are full of oak and yet pretty magnificent, just because the oak decomposed into myriads of oils and saps. I find thuja wood, cedar wood, then ‘an old Jaguar’s dashboard’ (oh forget), cigars and their old well-taken-care-of humidor, mint liqueur, incense, and then what’s we’re all expecting from Dalmore – yes I insist – oranges. This baby reminds me of the superb old 20 by Duncan Macbeth, no less. Now, the palate may well be terribly flat and dry after such a nose, let’s check it… Mouth: slightly mixed feelings at first sips, because of the coconut and molasses that come out (coconuts always hints at bourbon to be). So tastes a bit of ‘reracking’ at first, but things tend to improve mucho when the oranges come out, the oriental pastries, the butterscotch, the spearmint, the lemon curd… It’s less ‘fat’ than the 1996s, but of course it’s no light Dalmore. Finish: unexpectedly clean and citrusy. Rather long, at that. Comments: rather different, whatever that means. Truly excellent, but maybe a notch ‘pushed’. Always a matter of taste, of course. SGP:551 - 89 points.

Check the index of all Dalmore I've tasted so far

Pete McPeat and Jack Washback