Hot on the heels of new releases in to travel retail from Glenfiddich, Auchentoshan and Laphroaig, to name but a few, is a brand playing on a whole different level altogether.
In our last post, I wrote about Auchentoshan releasing
five new expressions in to travel retail, ranging from around thirty five quid to
around a hundred and thirty pounds. However, Richard Paterson and the good people at
The Dalmore distillery have only gone and, as they say in South London, ‘dropped
da bomb’ when it comes to Global Travel Retail as today saw the launch of the new collection of whiskies
from The Dalmore distillery. All 21 of them.
Yes, that’s right- I said 21.
No, really. TWENTY ONE.
Twenty one single casks are being released under the
banner ‘The Constellation Collection’ in partnership with airport owners BAA.
These limited edition offerings will be available for one month exclusively from
BAA's main Duty Free store in Heathrow’s Terminal 5, with prices ranging from £20,000 for a bottle of the
Vintage 1964 to £2,000 for a bottle of Vintage 1992.
If you're feeling flush, then the entire
collection will be available for
£158,000. Interested? Well, if you’re quick (as well as flush) then World Duty Free has been allocated two
complete collections; all the number 1 bottles from each year and all the
number 8 bottles from each year. No 1’s for the goalkeeper in you and
No. 8 for the Chinese in you. What a dilemma if you’re the ‘keeper for the Chinese
National Football Team...
So, what are these 21 different bottles and how much are
they?
A good question and one of the things that Richard Paterson and The
Dalmore should be applauded for, is their level of detail of information on
each of the whiskies released. It shows the care and attention to detail that has
gone in to the maturation of each whisky as well as highlighting that the whisky has nothing to hide.
Applause all round from me, a hardened whisky geek, on this level of
info.
So, here are the answers:
1964 American
White Oak moved in 2008 to an Oloroso Sherry Butt - £20,000
1966 American
White Oak, Bourbon Cask, moved in 2002 to a ‘Matusalem’ Oloroso Sherry Butt and
finished in 2008 in a ‘Distillery Run’
Bourbon barrel - £17,500
1969 American
White Oak, ‘Quercus Alba’ finished in 2009 in a ‘Small Batch’ Bourbon Barrel - £15,000
1969 American
White Oak, ‘Quercus Alba’, moved in 2005 to a ‘Matusalem’ Oloroso Sherry Butt
and finally finished in 2009 in a Bourbon Barrel - £15,000
1971 Wood from
the Ozark Range of Missouri, ‘Distillery Run’ Kentucky Bourbon Barrel - £13,000
1972 Gonzalez Byass
‘Apostoles’ Oloroso Sherry Butt finished in 2008 in a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel -
£12,000
1973 American
White Oak, followed in 2005 by French Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon Cask and finally
into ‘Small Batch’ Kentucky Bourbon Barrel in 2008 - £11,000
1976 American
White Oak, Freshly Filled Bourbon Barrel - £8,000
1978 American
White Oak, ‘Quercus Alba’ moved in 2007
to a ‘Matusalem’ Oloroso Sherry butt - £6,000
1979 American
White Oak, ‘Quercus Alba’ - £5,000
1979 European
Oak ‘Quercus Bobur’ Gonzalez Byass Sherry Butt - £5,000
1980 American
White Oak - £4,000
1980 Gonzalez Byass
‘Apostoles’ Oloroso Sherry Butt - £4,000
1981 American
White Oak finished in 2006 in ‘Amoroso’ Oloroso Sherry Butt - £3,750
1981 Gonzalez Byass
‘Apostoles’ Oloroso Sherry Butt - £3,750
1983 Gonzalez Bypass
‘Apostoles’ Oloroso Sherry Butt finished in 2008 in ‘Distillery Run’ Bourbon
Barrel - £3,250
1989 Freshly Emptied
Bourbon Barrel and then in 2006 in ‘Matusalem’ Oloroso Sherry Butt - £2,750
1990 American
White Oak and then in 2009 in ‘Matusalem’ Oloroso Sherry Butt - £2,500
1991 American
White Oak, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel finished in 2008 in ‘Amoroso’ Oloroso Sherry
Butt - £2,250
1991 American
White Oak, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel / 2002 Gonzalez Byass ‘Lepanto’ 15 Years Old
Brandy Cask / 2008 ‘Distillery Run’ Bourbon Barrel - £2,250
1992 American
White Oak ‘Quercus Alba’ / First Fill Kentucky Bourbon barrel / 2002 European
Oak ‘Quercus Robur’ Port Pipe - £2,000
Quite the range, huh. And it doesn’t stop there. The plan
is to replicate this series annually until 2016, dropping around 4,000 bottles a year over
the next four years. That’s an additional 20,000 bottles of limited edition
Dalmore in the market place by the end of 2016. For those of you who like
to collect whisky, it is going to be interesting to see what effect this has on
the residual price of your bottles. I was always taught that ‘less is more’ and
scarcity drives prices,so I’ll leave you to do the maths on that one.
One of the areas of focus for The Dalmore on this
collection has been to standardise the packaging across the range, so it is the
liquid that gets the attention, not the box or the bottle. Having said that, they
have done a fantastic job with the bottles which, as you can see from the
pictures, look fantastic.
But what about that liquid? Well, I was lucky enough to
try four different drams from the range this afternoon at Heathrow; the 1992, 1973, 1969 and the 1964. My pick
of the bunch was the following:
The Dalmore – 1973 – Constellation Collection – 48.1% abv
Nose: Rich tea biscuits, blackcurrant cordial (neat), black
forest gateaux, rum and raisen chocolate, plums.
Palate: All the classic fruits you’d expect:
blackcurrants, plums, prunes and fresh figs. Black cherries dripped in nutella.
Finish: Very strong and long, this really lasted well
with good balance and power.
Overall: Obviously, a stunning whisky. Of the four we
had, the two younger ones were the stand outs for me. The whiskies from the 1960’s
were good, with excellent aged wood on the palate but the personality was not as
strong as in the slightly younger drams we tried, which were more to my taste.
So, if you've got a few quid spare in the bank and you’re
passing through Heathrow Terminal 5 sometime in the next four weeks, do stop
and have a look at the collection and, if you’re feeling particularly generous,
there are two offerings from my birth year (1979) and either will do as a
gift....!