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.

A Thank You Plus Auchentoshan Virgin Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky Review

We don’t keep count here at Caskstrength Towers. We couldn’t tell you how many posts we’ve written over the years, nor how many whiskies and other spirits we’ve reviewed, but needless to say, it has been a fair few.

A labour of love, running a blog can often fast become a way of life; like those lycra-clad folk (I belive called 'mamils') who manage to make going to the gym a regular part of their life. We’re not exercise-shy by any means (Ardbeg Half Marathon, anyone?!) but somehow sitting down at our laptops, with a dram in hand, seems unusually to take the place of the locker room and dumbbells. Goodness knows why...!

If you are signed up to our mailing list (and if you are a regular reader, why wouldn’t you be?) you’ll know that each time we post on here, at 8pm GMT that evening, our scribblings are sent out to your inbox, for you to read on the bus, in bed or on the loo. If you’re not signed up, just stick your email address is the little box on the right; all you’ll get is this blog. Honest.

Once the email goes out, we often receive replies to it, with comments, questions and general feedback. (A special mention here for Wim, with his regular replies) We really appreciate all your comments and kind words.

This week, we found out that we have made one of the five finalists for The IWSC Blogger of the Year award, along with wine blogs Matt Walls, Deby Berd and the Wine Folly and the Sherry Blog WorldSherryDay.com, all wonderful places to read about grape-based products.

It is lovely to be nominated for awards, especially one with such a great international reputation, but what really makes writing this worthwhile is your feedback, comments and questions. If a tree falls in a wood and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a blog is set up and posts written, yet no one visits the site to read it... you get the picture. So, before we start today’s post, we’d just like to say a huge thank you to those of you who keep this blog alive, by giving us a reason to write it.

Exception to the rule - Auchentoshan Virgin Oak

There are always rules in life. And there are always exceptions to those rules. “I before E, except after C” is probably the most famous of the lot and one which, to be frank, is a heinous rule which seems to have become sovereign in our teachings on grammar, confusing not only those foreign to our language but also our neighbours, too.  Unscientific and downright weird, this rule should neither be taught nor learnt.

Can you see what I’ve done there...? Answers on a postcard to Caskstrength Towers (or a simple reply to your email, if you’re on the mailing list, will do).

When it comes to explaining whisky, there is one rule which is usually trotted out, that Scotch whisky is double distilled, whereas Irish whiskey is triple distilled.

Having just returned from a lovely trip to the new still house at Midleton distillery in Cork (home to Jameson, as well as Red Breast, Green and Yellow Spot and Midleton single pot still Irish whiskeys), it is great to see this powerhouse of triple-distilled whiskey production booming, but to say that this is the main difference between Scotch and Irish whiskey is simply untrue. In our next blog post, we’ll focus on what some of those differences are, but for the time being, let’s have a look at that most simple of rules: that Scotch whisky is always double distilled.

Aside from Springbank and their reflux-heavy stills which give not thrice, not twice but somewhere in between levels of distillation (famously their Hazelburn brand is triple distilled), there is one small single malt Scotch distillery which proves an exception to the rule.

Auchentoshan distillery, located just on the outskirts of Glasgow, produces triple distilled single malt Scotch whisky. As a result, the spirit taken for cask filling, from their third still, is at 81% abv, reputedly the highest in Scotland.

Their latest release sees Auchentoshan mature their whisky in virgin oak casks, untouched by any other spirit before use. In theory, this should show up the true DNA of the spirit, giving just a hint of North American oak to the whisky, but let’s find out:

Auchentoshan – Virgin Oak - NAS – 46% abv – RRP £69.99

Nose: Cinnamon dusted apple strudel, with hints of vanilla ice cream, Lily of the Valley and some lemon juice. Over time, the nose develops a more earthy quality which adds depth and complexity. Some tropical fruits after a while.

Palate: Big and fruity (tinned fruit salad), there are certainly elements of pineapple and ginger here, with peach melba, apricot and more pineapple. There are flourishes of lavender and sugary shortbread, but overall this is a very fruity dram and really quite lipsmacking.

Finish: The earthy notes from the nose give good ‘oomph’ to the passion fruit and pineapples found in the palate.

Overall: Right up there for me with some of the best releases this year. My only criticism is the price, which seems a little steep at nearly £70. All in, this is a solid release from the team at Auchentoshan.

Well worth a try (and well worth a visit if you’ve never been), let’s hope this sets a high standard for new releases from them and doesn’t prove to be an exception to the rule.