After a work related Christmas dinner I had the chance to taste The Dalmore 15. My expectations were high, as The Dalmore was one of my most anticipated on brands since I got interested in whisky - partly because of the hype around the brand - but, since my preferences started to lean towards peated whiskies early on, The Dalmore dropped lower on my Wishlist.
I’m going to confess right from the start that I found The Dalmore 15 to be an absolutely outstanding dram, from the Nose to the finish, but at the same time I feel The Dalmore is a bit over-hyped. I had a similar thoughts and experiences with The Macallan I tasted in Italy last year, though.
The Dalmore 15 has perfect balance, a full, round body and I liked the caramel peanuts in the palate as well as the obvious the sherrycask-influences, but this 15 year old didn’t ‘wow’ me very much at all. The finish was ok though and lingers on quite a while, especially it’s sweetness.
All in all it’s certainly not a bad dram, and I’ll try other expressions and ages of The Dalmore whenever I’ll get the chance to, but it the expectations will be a lot lower next time.