Dalmore 12 Year Black Isle

The Dalmore Black Isle is an early 2000s travel retail expression, a 1 litre bottle, that is now discontinued. This whisky is all about the famous scottish "Black Isle" which is not an island, nor Black. Actually the Black Isle is a very fertile, green penninsula; and it is located in front of The Dalmore distillery. This landscape has been appreciated by the distillery workers, and this bottling is a tribute to that lovely place. Botlled at 40%abv, this whisky has been matured 50% in European oak and 50% in american white oak. Deep copper color. On the nose, perfection. Cherries, red fruits, caramel, coffee with milk, sherry, glue, black chocolate and maple syrup. After the first sip, it revealed a Maple syrup overload, mixed with coffee beans. Maraschino cherries. Amazing. On the palate, the first sip is very fruity!. Orange juice, lemon, lime, very citric. Ginger spice. Everything changes on the second sip, revealing a sweeter profile: honey, maple abd caramel. Aftertaste is really interesting. The most clean red liquorice candy (the unchewable one), clove, ginger. Tobacco bitternes. Finally after some sips, it gave me CANDY BEANS, super clean and accurate. Incredible. Overall, as a fat guy, i really loved this whisky. But i want to go even further in my conclussions. I have read about how good Dalmore was in the past and how mediocre it is nowadays. Listen, i love, truly love present expressions of the Dalmore, and i don't think that they are mediocre, actually i think this is one of the best distilleries ever. BUT, having tasted 3 or 4 past expressions, i can truly say that those antique bottles are better. It is true, the Dalmore before 2010 made better, more elegant and complex whiskies. That doesn't mean that the expressions we have in the present are bad, they are actually very good. Having said all that, my score for this very enjoyable whisky is a well deserved 93 over 100. Slàinte Mhath.