Dalmore time – no Paterson wine cask messing here – just a 2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel and 10 years of maturation. Spicy & Dry profile.
Nose: Warm buttered scones with a side of salted caramel (and unusual breakfast certainly). Toffee apples, vanilla cream and some interesting underlying minerality – wet slates, aluminium cans. Water expresses the cask influence further with creamy vanilla custard. It also allows the spirit a bit more limelight – earthy and mossy.
Taste: Sugar-dusted patisserie (buns, rolls and swirls) is joined by apples, pears and some fizzing grape juice (let’s pretend its champagne to increase the perception of class here). In the mid palate, chocolate and biscuits – a welcome break for Kit Kats – and some additional fruitiness that comes across as a tea infusion. In the back palate – oak and vanilla from the 10 years of maturation.
Finish: Medium in length and presenting a balanced combination of chocolate covered digestive biscuits and sherbet fruits.
This 10 year old Dalmore is surprisingly opulent for both its age and its cask composition. There’s bold and defined flavours and a real sense of purpose with the delivery. Highly likable and one of the better SMWS Dalmore’s for quite some time.