Milliardo
Dalmore 12 Year
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
December 22, 2020 (edited June 18, 2021)
It’s 2020. It’s December. Let’s shut this year down with a brand new whiskey (or whisky) every day. It’s my own personal whiskey advent calendar. +6!
Dec. 22, 2020
How dare you accuse me of purchasing this scotch today for $49.99 at my grocery store simply because it came with two really cool looking glasses. It’s not that easy to win my affection. This is an outrage.
When I uncorked this whisky, the black part twisted off leaving the cork still stuck in the bottle. I have never seen that before. Not a good start, Dalmore. You will now have the cork formerly owned by Ezra Brooks. I hope you’re happy.
Nose has sugar, raisin, pickle juice. It’s a head-scratcher. Sugar like a bourbon, raisin like a sherry-finished Speyside, pickle like a rye.
Body has raisin, vanilla, ice cream. It’s delicious. If I had to pick one thing, I’d say a raisin cookie with soft vanilla icing.
Finish is malt chocolate, toffee. If I force the dill pickle note, trying to trick my palate into viewing this as a rye whiskey, the sweetness on the finish kind of takes a backseat to a briny, salty note. But I can just as easily focus on the raisin to get turned back on to those sweet, desert notes. It’s substantially more enjoyable as a sweet, desert whisky than as a briny one. This is just delightful.
I just read into how they make this stuff, and the choose your own adventure bit makes sense now. After nine years in ex-bourbon casks, half of it goes in ex-Sherry butts for 3 years while the other half stays in ex-bourbon casks. This introduces the sherry sweetness without completely overriding the bourbon influence, which I’d bet a nickel was a high-rye bourbon influence. Very cool whisky witchcraft here, and I’m very glad I took a flyer on this scotch. (Even with that busted cork nonsense, which I’m going to assume is an anomaly.)
‘Tis the season. I’m day-to-day on my whiskey selection, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments. Merry whiskey to all, and to all a beer flight!
49.99
USD
per
Bottle
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@robwalker edited... "cigar malt" and "King Alexander"
@cascode I'd have to agree with you on the 18 year...I did a masterclass a few years ago at a whisky festival here with Richard Patterson, who was fantastic in person, and the 18 year stood out to me over the whole line that we tasted, including the cigar make and King surface. On a side note, my 12 year old bottle has a busted cork.
@Scott_E thanks man!
@pkingmartin I don’t know why, but the thought of Ardbeg camping mugs literally made me laugh out loud. Ron Swanson may have endorsed the wrong scotch. Thanks!
@PBMichiganWolverine I can’t recall which Cigar Malt I tasted, it was at a whisky fair a couple of years ago so probably the more recent version. It was nice enough but at $200 over here I think it is overpriced for a NAS, particularly when the Dominium is the same price and the 18 y.o. just $25 more.
@PBMichiganWolverine I totally concur with that. The followup was twice as expensive and half as good. And that is the main problem I I have with Dalmore. That being said, @Milliardo, your review is spot on. I find the 12 is actually pretty darn good for the price (cheaper too than Mac12).
I like Dalmore whiskies and the overall presentation of their bottlings, but I struggle to understand the excessive use of coloring being added thought their range. The bright redness is actually quite off putting to me; especially in the high dollar whiskies like the King Alexander which should be natural color and bottled at 46%.
I’ve done the same to get two Ardbeg camping mugs. For the cork issue, I’ve seen that a few times in Glenrothes bottles and that’s why I keep decanters around now. Great work finding a replacement though and really enjoyed your review.
@cascode the original Cigar Malt was amazing. I think the new one was a few steps down. Seemed like less sherry influence or lower quality casks
This is a whisky a lot of folk like to bash, and indeed the distillery itself and the master blender also come in for their share of criticism. I understand some of this, but I do feel it is unjust in the extent to which it is ladled out. Most Dalmore products are marketed at a lower abv, but that suits both the style of whisky and the known demographic. The new make (which I have tasted) is very big and musky when the various still outputs are mixed and it takes sherry cask maturation very well - particularly sweet sherry - so it is understandable that the almost cognac-like profile it develops is encouraged. Richard Paterson may be a showman and a bit larger than life but he knows exactly what he is doing, and the big, silent fan base of Dalmore enthusiasts buys the product avidly. Personally I really like this 12 year old, but there is a new version coming out that is reputed to be even better. If you want to step up try the 18 year old, it is pretty special. The King Alexander and Cigar Malts are very popular, but I don't think they are worth the money. Great review, BTW!