The Dalmore by Ian MacLeod, Single Cask Strength, 2009 vintage, The Goat.

Ian Macleod once released a collection of three whiskies, all of them single casks from the Dalmore distillery which is one of my favorites, but it is often criticized for their low abv expressions. Well, this is the pure heart of Dalmore's famous and delicious spirit; since the whole collection (i called them the Eagle, the Goat and the Pearl because of their crazy good looking labels), are all bottled at Cask Strength. This is my second review from that collection, this time the GOAT. A 58.4%ABV Dalmore, one of only 285 bottles ever made. It has a 2009 vintage, making this one an 8yo whisky if i am not mistaken. On the nose, it is impressive. Starts with a full orange note, with chocolate and hazelnut. Sweet plums, school glue, coffee, Nutella, marzipan; all the classic Dalmore notes are here, but delivered in a powerful way. After a couple of sips, the aroma changed into milk powder, metallic notes, gooseberries and butter. On the palate, it is perfect. Orange, milk powder, ginger, chocolate and... wet paint. It is super sweet, it actually gave notes of a Pavlova dessert. Acid and sweet. Incredible. Aftertaste is actually salty. Ginger, star aniseed, bitter dark chocolate. Green tea. Grass and almonds. Overall, if i have to guess which sherry cask was used here, i would probably say amontillado. The acid orange notes are uncanny, i was really surprised. An incredible whisky, which is a little less perfect than the first one i tasted of the same collection (The Eagle). A Dalmore heart from an independent bottler, a dream come true. My score for it is 97 over 100.