Stop number 59 on the SDT is Dalmore. It also marks the half way point of our journey to try all of the Scottish distilleries. This Highland distillery is quite famous and their master distiller Richard Paterson is nearly as well known with his eccentricities and showmanship. If you haven’t seen his videos on how to drink a whisky you should check one out. This 12 year old single malt is matured half in ex bourbon casks and half in sherry casks. Bottled at 40% ABV, chill filtered and has colorant added but it is a lovely dark copper color. The nose starts with strong oaky notes. It’s also heavy on the raisins and dates. Christmas cake, cinnamon and oddly enough I got a warm rye bread note. Some cardboard and maybe a hint of toasted coconut. More dark notes permeate the nose. Plums, dark berries, dark toffee/caramel, semisweet chocolate and vanilla all mingle together with sherry and hazelnut. A little pipe tobacco and some grape skins. Walnuts, tangerine and brown sugar. Possibly some almonds/marzipan, but if it’s really there it’s far in the background. Very elegant and it shows maturity beyond its age statement, but I feel it lacks in power. Most likely this is by design to appeal to more people as easy drinking. The palate is loaded with dark chocolate and sherried oak. Fruitcake, baking spices and a drop of orange oil. A very slight bitterness of oak tannins. Raisins and dates that were dropped into tangerine marmalade. More sherry, some walnuts and sweet tobacco. While being complex, again I feel that this suffers from a lack of overall strength. Light bodied mouthfeel, soft, dry and mouth coating. A medium long finish that is dry, full of sherry, baking spices and fruit cake. This was my first experience with Dalmore and I had heard differing opinions about them. My personal opinion here is that it really needs to be at a higher ABV. Even boosting to 43% could have made this great instead of simply very good. I love everything about the nose and palate except I just need more of everything. I do see it’s appeal as is though. A nice quiet evening in mid autumn with a dram of Dalmore in the glencairn sounds like a good time to me. Thanks to @Scott_E for the sample. A solid 3.75 that I am rounding up to 4 stars because it’s really closer to a 4 than a 3. Cheers 🥃