LeeEvolved
Dalmore Valour
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
April 26, 2018 (edited May 3, 2018)
We’re just over a week removed from the Whiskyfest I attended and this malt was a pre-fest sample brought down from Detroit by my friend @Generously_Paul: travel retail exclusive, Dalmore Valour. We mixed this sample in with several heavy-hitters: Black Arts 5, Laphroaig Cairdeas Amontillado, Macallan Fine Oak 21, Ardbeg 23, etc. To say it got lost in the mix is an understatement, but Paul was gracious enough to send me home with an extra pour so I can let this one speak for itself- minus all the competition. What follows is that review:
Like I said, Dalmore Valour is a TRE. It’s bottled at the industry minimum of 40% ABV, has color added to make it a beautiful (albeit fake), sunset amber. It’s also chill filtered, oily and makes numerous thin legs and large water droplets in the Glencairn. The snob in me wishes Dalmore would quit all the non-sense around coloring and filtration, but Paterson Knows Best...
The nose was immediately fresh cut oak and pine, slight sherry cask sweetness and an abundance of simple sugars. All the candy and fruit notes were much lighter than the oak, though.
The palate follows suit with lots of soft sherry, vanilla with just a hint of bitterness on the tail end of the sip. Thank to the low ABV there’s a very watery feel to the whole sip and that shortens the flavor profile way more than it should.
The finish is short/medium short with an overly dry sensation and a thin mouthfeel. Again, probably due mostly to the short finessing time spent in the port and oloroso casks along with a heavy dose of water to bring everything down to 40%.
I’m not sure what Paul had to ultimately pay for this bottle, but I’m going to declare it not worth whatever the amount. This is one of the most uninspired Dalmore’s I’ve had to this point. Sadly, I seem to always end up giving Dalmore some beef over the extra harshness on the palate on most of their drams- well, this one lacks that bite and it would be welcomed with open arms here. This is a very uneventful, almost flavorless experience. I think we need to stick with the age statement stuff from Richard Paterson’s crew. Definitely skip this one-
3 mediocre stars is all I can muster. Cheers.
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@cascode - I actually like Richard Paterson’s whole persona- he’s got a peculiar attitude towards scotch whisky and you can tell he’s passionate about Dalmore. I just wish they’d stop the color and chill filtration nonsense and focus on making the flavors on the tongue match the incredible nose that most Dalmore’s have. As I work my way towards the higher age statement stuff, it’s getting better. Unfortunately, you have to pay for such an experience. 9 out of 10 of their NAS offerings can be avoided, though. That’s really sad.
Dalmore has been dead to me for a long time. I occasionally have a sample at whisky events but nothing I've tasted in the last 20 years has made me change my mind. The 12 year old is OK but "meh". Everything else is just plain "meh". Not exactly over-hyped, but over-praised-for-no-good-reason. Almost as much as Richard "The Ego" Paterson himself.
@Rick_M - I actually saw a bottle of the Cigar Malt somewhere online for $97. Now I can’t remember which store. That’s an acceptable price IMO. The people trying to charge $150+ have lost their minds.
@LeeEvolved - I’ve been toying with buying the Cigar Malt for a while and now the price is too high to bite.
So sad seeing all the crappy NAS Dalmore's on airports. 'Do you need help, sir?' Boy, where is the emergency exit... Great review!
Yeah, I think one is mostly done in by the low ABV. The NAS aspect of it and short duration in the finishing casks didn’t allow it to get much depth on the “finessing”. Isn’t that what was written on the box, instead of finishing it reads finessing? WTF does that mean? Lol. Thanks for sending me an extra pour so it didn’t get lost with those crazy, good pours we had, but perhaps it would’ve been better had it got lost to antiquity. It was very uninspiring.
Dalmore is baaaad value. @Generously_Paul I think it is highly regarded because that dude Richard Paterson does not know how to behave and goes on shows throwing whisky away before showing off some $20,000 Dalmore, which is probably good. I don't know. Haven't tried. But their affordable offers suck.
$80 for 1L. Dalmore is so highly regarded but for the life of me I can’t figure out why. The cigar malt reserve was really good but not outstanding, the 12 was weak and this one...well your review says it all. Hopefully with the remainder of my overpriced bottle I can coax out something that can redeem it to a 3.5 at least.