Dalmore The Quartet (1L)

Product Information

The original Dalmore Cigar Malt, introduced in 1999, took the distillery’s base single malt whisky and matured it first in previously used American bourbon barrels, before moving to 30 year old sherry casks. As mentioned, that whisky was discontinued in 2009, much to the chagrin of whisky consumers everywhere. An evolved take on the process used in The Dalmore 12, the 15-year expression is aged for 12 years in American bourbon casks before being split between three different styles of sherry woods: Amoroso, Apostles and Matusalem, for the rest of its maturation. The three threads are then merged together once again, creating The Dalmore 15. The distillery refers to this bottle as “the epitome of our house style,” suggesting perhaps that this expression is what they see as their true flagship, as it were. Like the 12 year, this is only 40% ABV (80 proof). Taking a sip, the first thing that hits me is a dark toffee flavor for a deep and rich baseline. From there, a little bit of caramel combined with some charred oak and dark chocolate adds a touch of variety and depth. So far, all of these are excellent complimentary flavors for a cigar — and often flavors you get from the cigar itself. The Dalmore has a number of notable firsts. It was the first single malt exported from Scotland (to Australia) in 1870. For much of its history it has been ranked among the largest distilleries in Scotland. Its current production capacity of 4.2 million liters of pure alcohol still places it among the top quartile of Scotch whisky distilleries. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.

Today we’re having Dalmore The Quartet. This consists of first-fill bourbon casks, Apostoles Palo Cortado and Matusalem Oloroso casks (both from Bodegas González Byass) and Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks. Without prejudice to the section Liability below, the Service may be temporarily unavailable during maintenance, updates, etc. We shall make reasonable efforts to inform you of any unavailability due to maintenance or updates. No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service. Following the 1960 sale of the distillery, W&M changed things up a bit and shifted from the heavy emphasis on bulk spirits production to include more single malt expressions and bespoke runs of spirits. Product Something I will note is that this seems to go better with a darker and richer maduro cigar rather than something like a Connecticut shade. The richer flavors in the maduro cigar seem to blend better with what’s in the glass and provide a generally more flavorful experience.

The Dalmore’s age-stated expressions hew to a certain archetype of classic, sherried Highland malt, while the NAS selections are a bit more on the free-wheeling side, differentiating themselves in their styles of finish, unique flavor profiles and variation in proof point. Perhaps unexpectedly, the second cheapest Dalmore expression, Port Wood Reserve, is also the strongest in the entire core lineup, at a still fairly modest 46.5% ABV (93 proof). As the name would suggest, this entry shifts its focus away from the typical sherry and onto secondary maturation in aged tawny port pipes, with the added punch of proof clearly meant to give it another distinguishing characteristic. The Dalmore Distillery was established in 1893 by a Scottish entrepreneur named Alexander Matheson. Located in a large meadowland (the Scottish word for big meadowland being “dalmore”— hence, where the distillery derives its name) north of Inverness and adjacent to the Cromarty Firth, the location was ideal for whiskey production. Typically, scotch whisky (at least, somewhat “good” scotch) will come in a sleeve of some sort to protect the bottle and keep it from being harmed by any sunlight that may get to it. That’s the case here as well, but they seem to have gone a bit above and beyond with the box. It’s constructed from heavy cardboard with a smooth exterior, with the top being held in place magnetically.

Things ran fairly smoothly for the family run distillery until in 1917, with the First World War raging in Europe, the Royal Navy decided to use the remote firth to start producing deep sea naval mines for the war effort. This would have a disastrous effect in 1920 when the Royal Navy accidentally scored a direct hit on the distillery with one of those mines, with the resulting explosion destroying much of it and lighting what was left on fire. Dalmore The Trio has been matured in three different types of cask: first-fill ex-Bourbon, 10-year-old tawny Port and 30-year-old matuselum Sherry. You are responsible for all activities through your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide to us in relation to your account, and for updating it where necessary. You are not allowed to create multiple accounts. We may terminate or temporarily suspend your account to protect you, ourselves or our partners from (suspected) identity theft or other (suspected) fraudulent (e.g. false, misleading, deceptive) activity. You have the obligation to keep your login credentials confidential. You shall not authorize any others to use or access your account.As Tenacious D might say, this is not the Dalmore Cigar Malt — this is just a tribute. Unfortunately, the original Dalmore Cigar Malt was discontinued about a decade ago. The good news, though, is that this might actually be better than that original. The finish on this whiskey is surprisingly short, lasting less than a minute and without any real lingering flavors. But I guess that’s expected — you don’t want the flavor of your whiskey to ruin the flavor of your next puff on a cigar. On Ice

Whiskybase B.V. is the Dutch private limited liability company, having its statutory seat in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and its office at Zwaanshals 530, 3035 KS Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Whiskybase B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under no. 52072819.Condensing is also unusual. The spirit stills have external shell and tube condensers which lie horizontally. This mirrors the old worm pipe which lay in the burn which runs outside the stillhouse. The Service has been prepared by us solely for information purposes to Members and the Service is based on information we consider reliable and we obtain the contents of the Service from a number of different third party sources (including Contributions), but we do not endorse, support, represent, warrant or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of the Services and any information therein.

The Dalmore Ensemble Collection used to be the travel retail offering from Dalmore distillery. It consisted of The Trio, The Quartet and The Quintet. Inspired by musical works of art, they ‘composed’ whiskies finished in 3, 4 or 5 cask types. Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”).Our Service is an online platform which provides Members with information (e.g. bottle facts, market-indices, market values and prices) on (mostly) whisky and allows Members to add information to the platform. We do not sell, nor does the Service provide any option to buy, any alcoholic products. There’s a lot going on in the aroma of this whiskey, and I think I’m getting notes from just about every facet of the process. There’s a bit of caramel and vanilla that seems to be from the bourbon barrels, some sweet honey and melon presumably from the sherry casks, a bit of darker fruit like a splash of cabernet sauvignon from the obvious cabernet sauvignon cask source, and a hint of peat smoke pulling the whole thing together. The great thing is that none of that is in conflict or clashing, the aromas all mix together excellently well.