Hello World, We're Back! The Dalmore 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Ahhhh, it’s nice to be back in front of the computer writing for fun. Not that all the writing we do isn’t fun, but there is something liberating about writing a piece for this site which doesn’t require a word count nor a deadline!

Recently you may have noticed a slight, erm, scarcity to the level of posts we’ve been penning. Never one to shirk away from our duties, our eyes, hands, ears and, most importantly, taste buds have been kept busy in a different direction, finishing off a book (a proper physical one with paper pages and everything) due out next year and meddling with this wee beast: www.3dwhisky.com 

But here we are again, back in the game and ready to bring you some tasty wee morsels in the lead up to Christmas.

And a bloomin’ good job too as the samples are piling up on our desk here at Caskstrength HQ. So, what better way than to kick this week off with than a new release from Whyte & Mackay.

As I sat down to write this piece, my inbox pinged with news from leading drinks industry fact-mongers Just-Drinks. It informed me (and the rest of the world, too) of what Diageo, now ‘owners’ of Whyte & Mackay, were planning to do with the host of whisky brands acquired since their take over earlier in the year of then Indian-owned United Spirits.

Until everything is confirmed about who the parent company will eventually be in this liquid custody battle, refereed by the Office of Fair Trading, the folk over at W&M have been busy expanding their core range of The Dalmore, adding to the already existing 12, 15, 18, Cigar Malt Reserve and excellent King Alexander III (our personal fav) with a 25 year old offering.

We first tried this new release about two week ago when the sample arrived in our office. Dave Broom had popped in to say hello ahead of the annual IWSC dinner where he was to be bestowed with his much deserved Communicator of the Year award (well done, Dave), but we didn’t get a chance to really sit with the whisky, take notes and savour the whole experience, so we were looking forward to a quite time when we could really relax and give this new experssion our full attention.

So what of theliquid? Well, once fresh from the stills, this Dalmore was matured in American white oak casks before being divided into Palomino Fino sherry butts and first-fill bourbon casks. Once matured, the whiskies were married together once again into bourbon barrels before finally being transferred into Tawny Port pipes from Portugal.

Quite the international journey for a humble Scottish spirit! It sounds complicated, but nowhere near as complex as the King Alexander, which is a blend of Dalmore matured in French wine casks, Madeira drums, Sherry butts, Marsala barrels, Port pipes and Bourbon barrels. Over complicated? Not in the case of the King Alex, but let’s see how the 25 year old fares...

The Dalmore – 25 Years Old – 3000 bottles only – 42% abv – RRP £600 Available here or here

Nose: Toffee fudge is the first note to rise from the glass, followed by some marzipan and strong bergamot. These orange notes develop in a rich marmalade smothered on hot toast. With a hint of water tropical fruits come through.

Palate: Rich and rounded, the bergamot flavours take the driving seat with burnt sugar, toasted almonds and a hint of black pepper and cinnamon spices on top. Very rich mouthfeel With water the whisky opens up a little to give all the previous flavoured a much more rounded and sweet tone. Personal preference, at the risk of being chastised by The Dalmore’s Richard Paterson himself, is with ever such a small drop of H2O.

Finish: The spices and dried orange peel tingle away at the back, but with water this is rounded off for a more subtle, quite frankly, delicious.

Overall: A unanimous decision here in the Caskstrength office that this is, wait for it, “a really excellent whisky”. A great way to get us back in the swing of things, as we head towards the prime whisky drinking time of Christmas and the New Year.

Please Sir, Can I Have Some Dalmore?

Say what you want about easyjet, at least they fly to Inverness. A bonus if you want to visit some of the more northerly extremes of whisky making on this Fair Isle (and beyond). Plus, they don’t have the audacity, as with some other budget airlines, to pretend that where they’re going isn’t actually where they’re going. Honestly, if the Scotch Whisky Association were given overview of Ryanair’s airport naming policy and applied the same rules they have for whisky labels, we’d all be in safer hands!

As a football fan, I take great delight in visiting new grounds (hopefully to see Oxford play) and this season alone has already yielded another four grounds to my list, with such glamourous locations as Morecambe, Plymouth and Macclesfield penned in the diary. Thankfully Swindon has been done. In more ways than one.

This passion for visiting new grounds, new places and meeting new people has been carried over to distilleries; I love visiting new ones, meeting the people who make the liquid as well as discovering the individual and unique processes that make each distillery distinct. ‘Every day is a school day’, when going around a distillery. You always, without fail, learn something new. So it was with gusto that I jumped at the chance of visiting the newly refurbished Dalmore distillery.

With Scotch whisky exports up by 20% in the first 10 months of 2011, interest in the product has never been higher and people don’t just want to consume, they want to imbibe. Not just the liquid, but the history, the stories and the folklore. This means that when people do go to Scotland, they’re keen to see where their favourite dram is made and how it goes from grain to glass.

The Dalmore has invested £1 million in creating an experience for visitors which guides them through the spirit-making process using clever lighting; the Washbacks are lit with neon strap lights, creating a Tron-eque environment, while the Stills are bathed in flashing lights, recreating the boiling of the liquid and the separation of water and alcohol. The whole experience is a visual delight, half Science Museum, half Coldplay gig.

For the uber-geek however, the real fun comes away from the Still Room. The more time I spend at distilleries, the more I appreciate the ‘cut point’ of the spirit:

The cut point is one of the essential aspects that gives a distillery’s New Make its unique flavour. During the second phase of distillation, the spirit runs off the still and must be captured, placed in a cask and matured. However, you cannot use all of it. The foreshots, the first section of distillate, contains some volatile compounds which can make you ill and the feints, the latter section of the distillate, is too low in alcohol. And doesn’t taste great! This leaves the middle section, known as the ‘heart’, to be saved for maturation. Every distillery chooses which section of the distillate to select as their heart and this will have a profound effect on the profile of the whisky. Thus, the points where the distillery selects to start and finish collecting the heart, are known as the ‘cut points’.

At The Dalmore, the cut is made at around 70 – 72% alcohol. One of the new installations at the distillery is designed to show why this is. A display of 12 bottles of new make spirit are open for nosing. Each bottle has been filled with spirit from a different ‘cut point’, so each has a differing level of alcohol. The range runs: 61% / 64% / 67% / 70% / 72% / 74% / 78% / 80% / 81% / 82% / 83% plus a bottle containing the feints and one containing the foreshots.

This fantastic display allows visitors to nose the difference in aroma between the spirits. Some of which are very nice (closest to the heart) and some of which are not so nice (closets to the foreshots); it highlights the huge importance of taking only the best spirit away for maturation, or else you’ll end up with a pretty bad dram!

In the same area, there is a fantastic sculpture of barrel made up of staves from different types of wood (plane, sherry etc) at different charring levels; a great visual example of the range of casks the spirit can find itself in, for maturation.

The Dalmore has also been offering visitors the chance to purchase a distillery only bottle. A single cask from 1991 chosen by the workers at the distillery, only 450 bottles have been released.

The Dalmore – 'Distillery Exclusive' - 1991 - filled: 25/01/1991 bottled: 10/08/2011) - 20 Years Old – Distillery Only - Comes in a Drawstring Velvet Bag – 450 bottles only - 59% ABV (£150)

Nose: Fruit and Nut Chocolate with a glass of Port is the first aroma out of the glass. Behind it comes pine nuts and a hint of Ryvita. The well-hung, aged raw steak giving it a slightly meaty note. With water, the chocolate tones develop greater prominence.

Palate: Orange Sherbet, orange crèmes mix with good woody driness which gives the whole things some balance of spice to the sweetness of the orange. There is robust Porty nature to this (I don’t know what type of cask this has been in) which I first encountered in the nose. With a drop of water, palate tones turn more to tangerine flavours. Really very tasty.

Finish: The finish is much more robust than the palate, with espresso notes, five spice, a hint of Black Jack sweets and Wham! Bars (I’m getting all Retro-sweet shop here!).

Overall: It’s not often you see an official single cask Dalmore released, so a bit of a rarity from the distillery. But judging by this 20 year old, it has proved a great choice by the distillery chaps and will hopefully open the door to a few more like this in the distillery shop. In short, an excellent bottling at a good age, with a robust ABV and packed with flavour.

The tour at The Dalmore was entertaining and educational and is very much worth a visit. If every day is a school day, when going around a distillery, then visiting The Dalmore is like sports day; you’re bound to have a bit of fun.

Try Me A River....

Purveyors of luxury malts The Dalmore are no strangers to releasing expensive whisky. And we mean VERY expensive whisky. Last year's Trinitas raised a few eyebrows with its grotesque £100,000 price tag and a few critics (including us) questioned what the purpose of the release was; nothing wrong per se with an exclusive bottling, but at that price surely a whisky, which very few people will ever get to try and therefore a case of an attention grabbing price hugely overshadowing the actual liquid. Last December's 59yo Eos was a still mightily expensive release, but we were fortunate to be able to try a small dram and it certainly impressed and grabbed our attention, primarily because of its huge complexity and zestiness, despite its vintage.

With whisky beginning to challenge the super-premium Cognacs around the world, it is understandable why distillers are cashing in on 'Mega Drams'. But does the quest to release the world's most expensive whisky and the tit-for-tat price war (particularly between Dalmore and Macallan) create an equal amount of negative publicity for the brands, especially in times of austerity?

The cynic in me wonders whether the marketing department at The Dalmore were starting to get a little antsy about releasing all these pricey bottlings, when they created their new series of releases, but let's look at them from the positive perspective the represent.

The Rivers Collection is a series of 4 whiskies, to help raise money towards the conservation of several of Scotland's major fishing waterways - namely the Dee, Spey, Tay and Tweed rivers.

The project was launched initially with the Dalmore Dee Dram, whose sale contributed £35,000 to help preserve fishing on this iconic river. The project now hopes to raise a much more substantial amount towards the upkeep of Scotland's other heritage rivers, with £4 being donated from every bottle sold. The bottlings are all produced from a combination of American Oak and Oloroso sherry matured casks, bottled as NAS and at 40%. It's not clear how big the run is on any of these, but we assume they won't be around for long.

So what is the liquid like? Are they all different, perhaps mirroring the changing temperaments of their namesake rivers? Let's dive in head first and hope we don't get carried away...

The Dalmore - The Dee Dram - NAS- 40%

Nose: Sweet candy floss, with hazel nuts, some musty cellar notes and dry wine cork aromas. Given time in the glass, there is also a slightly meaty note, perhaps cooked pork.

Palate: Quite bitter and dry on the first sip, with a rubbery note and more of the cork notes. Not that nice at all. A hint of stewed apple and green apple peel develops on the 2nd sip, but it's fairly unbalanced with the dryness and rubber.

Finish: The Oak dominates the finish, which lingers for a while and drops off quite unremarkably.

Overall: Not the greatest of starts, if i'm honest. A very one dimensional and flat whisky, rather unlike the actual River Dee, which i'm told is the one of the highest water sources in the UK!

Next up- a little trip down into the River Tay bottling.

The Dalmore - The Tay Dram - NAS - 40%

Nose: Dark burnt caramel, with spirity notes and a bitter-sweet aroma of Demerara sugar. Slightly fermented red grape juice and a hint of fresh vanilla pods. Better than the Dee Dram, but still not hugely impressive.

Palate: Again, quite a bitter taste initially, with a malty undertone (thick malt extract) and a nutty, ale-like mid palate. The spirit dominates and it feels like a lot of very young whisky has gone into making this bottling.

Finish: Shortish with more of the malty/ale notes lingering.

Overall: Hmmm. Not doing it for me at all, i'm afraid. There's no real development here and not a great deal of complexity, although the nose has a little more character than the Dee.

Our 3rd whisky is the Tweed Dram, which is incidentally a river on whose banks I spent a wonderful day's Salmon fishing about 6 years ago. I caught absolutely nothing, but as most anglers with my limited ability will testify to- it's all about the 'one that got away', rather than the ones you catch. Will the Tweed Dram deliver that prize catch, or leave me blanking again?

The Dalmore - The Tweed Dram - NAS - 40%

Nose: A peppery note hits first, followed by the aroma of... yes, old tweed jackets! There's also the presence of some freshly cut green apple, Acetone, a grassy note and some creamy malty cereal. Although it shares some of the negative characteristics of the Tay and the Dee, it has a bit of vibrancy to it, unlike the first two.

Palate: Sweet cereal, mint humbugs, spirit and digestive biscuits all arrive first, but a rubbery note follows through swiftly afterwards, with a lighter vanilla /floral flavour beginning to develop. It's a little off kilter, but works far better than the Dee and the Tay.

Finish: Green grassy flavours linger on the palate with a touch of white Oak dryness at the death.

Overall: A step up on the previous bottlings, this has zesty youthful notes, which are a welcome surprise and clearly positive in the whisky's overall balance.

Our final river dram is the mighty Spey, the 2nd longest in Scotland and arguably one of the most important waterways from both a fishing and a whisky making perspective. Fast flowing and slightly unpredictable, let's hope its name-sake dram can keep up with the undercurrent and not get caught up in the weed beds...

The Dalmore - The Spey Dram - NAS - 40%

Nose: A familiar malty note comes to the fore first, with brown sugar covered dried fruit, a hint of vanilla, and a little musty note. This does seem to have a faint aroma of cinnamon buns - that freshly baked smell, which I find highly alluring on my visit to the bakers, so a few extra points as a result.

Palate: The palate is again young, a little bitter, but with some fresh fruit notes, malted milk biscuits, green apple peel and perhaps a touch of the cinnamon, returning from the nose. Dig deeper and a deft touch of vanilla comes through. Although not that much more developed, it is probably the best of the 4 in my opinion.

Finish: Malt and the remnants of the green apple peel stay in the mouth for a while, with echoes of the vanilla fading as the palate dries.

Overall: Very similar to the other 3, but with perhaps a slight edge in terms of overall balance.

So, rather like a days fishing- a mixed bag indeed. I can't say I was an overall fan of the type of whisky on offer here, but there were a couple of high points, with the Spey being the overall Catch Of The Day...

You can purchase these whiskies from the following links:

www.whiskyshopdufftown.co.uk

www.thewhiskyexchange.com

www.masterofmalt.com

Arts for Arts Sake

I'm a big art fan and part-time collector, when the funds allow. Some of my personal favourite artists are Banksy, Jamie Reid and Eric GIll; all three of whom I am proud to own. One of my first forays into the art world was way back as a teenager; aged just 17, I had been working at Toys R Us in Oxford. Having saved up all my hard earned pennies (£3.20 p/h if I remember correctly), I faced a tough choice: Go with the rest of the lads from my football club to Magaluf for a week of sun, sangria and, well, you get the point... or purchase a couple of pieces of art I had seen at an auction preview in London a few weeks previously. 

After much deliberation, I decided that my heart was in the art, so I got the train down to London to bid in my first ever auction. Thankfully, the lot came in lower than expected and I walked away with two original Jamie Reid posters; One promotional poster for God Save The Queen. The other was a very limited edition poster that came with the first pressing of Never Mind The Bollocks... Now I was a proud owner of my first original pieces of art! Since then, I've made some further ventures into the art field, most notably buying a Banksy print for £30 in 2002 (the art equivalent of the Port Ellen Feis Ile from 2008). 

The God Save The Queen poster has long gone, used to fund various excursions and my University degree (any Scottish reader who studied in Scotland wouldn't understand the concept of paying for Further Education, not that we're bitter down here in England at all...!) but the NMTB poster is still with me, a reminder of all that hard work in the Toys R Us warehouse and a marker as to my first ever art purchase.

I was reminded of these fond times when a press release and sample dropped through my doormat this week. It was for the Dalmore Mackenzie. A limited edition whisky from @the_nose himself, Richard Paterson. If you purchase one of these 3,000-only bottles, you are given the option to send away for a complimentary print of a famous Scottish painting; ‘Fury of the Stag’ painted in 1786 by Benjamin West. The bottling has been done to raise money for the The Clan Mackenzie Society of Scotland & The UK and will retail at around £100. 

Not art-for-art's sake, but art for a good cause. Hats off all round.

The Dalmore Mackenzie - 17 Years Old (11 in ex-Bourbon / 6 Years in fresh Port Pipes) - 46% Vol

Nose: Quite a fresh nose, with some plum-like notes, dark chocolate truffles & mint. A touch of other green herbs, such as basil and thyme. Very pleasant indeed.

Palate: Coffee notes, more of the dark chocolate truffles and lemon / lime zest as it sits for a while on the palate. Warming and tasty.

Finish: Toffee, oranges / mandarin. Long with hints of spices. Very nice indeed.

Overall: This is a really nice dram. Sometimes I find Dalmore can drown with a little too much much sherry finishing, but the port pipes used in the creation of this dram have done an excellent job rounding the whisky and adding just enough fruit and spice to the palate. Good work.