Tastes

Salted caramel to start off with. It has quite a strong sherry note, with some fruit, but most of all it tastes young. The saltiness stays with you for a while. I’m a big Bunnahabhain fan, and have liked many of their NAS bottlings, but this is one of the poorer expressions in the range. It’s still an OK dram, but it’s not one of their best.

Rich sherry flavour, with a dry fruity back taste. There’s a lot of alcohol up front, but not as much as you’d expect for something at 60%. It tastes quite young overall, but despite the alcohol it’s a smooth and easy to drink dram. Spicy, peppery and sherried upfront with a long citrus and peppery finish. For my taste, a few drops of water opens this one out and gives it room to breathe.

(Batch 2) Sweet apple and apricot up front, a little acerbic. It mellows into a light taste of tea with clove and oak on the finish. It retains a sugary/fruity sweetness all the way through. It’s quite a nice dram which reminds me of Bushmills (in a good way!)

This really coats your mouth, it’s oily and rich to start, it then gives a sharper citrus note and then moves into caramel and spice. It’s quite layered and complex. Not bad at all.

Sweet and syrupy, with a back note of oak and spice. There’s some apple and grapefruit up front, but it melts away into quite a sour note. It tastes young with the initial hit of un-matured alcohol, but overall it’s pleasant and easy to drink. This might be a pretty decent dram with a few more years to mature.

If you like a sweet peaty whisky, this is a bit special. You smell the peat before you get a chance to taste the wonderful sherry and dark fruit of this one. It starts with a hit of peat, then a taste of sherry, and a charred sweet oak finish. Nice!

Floral - really floral! It mellows into a clove and bready finish, but most of all it made me sneeze! It’s a decent dram but too floral for my palate.

Typically of Dalmore, there’s quite an orange hit up front. It mellows into a really buttery smooth dram with ginger spice and a sweet hint of cocoa. Lovely.

This tastes more like a bourbon than a malt. Sweet on the first taste with some lovely orangey backnotes. Lingers for a while and turns into a lemony twang. Nice.

Sweet, dried dark fruits and spices, but overwhelmed by a charred oak taste. Very full bodied and tannic. The aftertaste is a kind of sour ash that stays around for ages.