The Dalmore October 16-18, 2009

[Ganga]

Welcome to the Dalmore Live Forum Tasting.

The Whiskies

Dalmore 12 (old and new expressions)
Dalmore 15
Dalmore 18
Dalmore 21
Dalmore Cigar Malt
Dalmore Gran Reserva
And any other Dalmores you may have...

Date and Time

Friday 16th October 7:00pm GMT - Sunday 18th October

About...
For those of you who do not know what these are about, they run for generally 12+ hours and we all sit down (at various times) to taste a range of whiskies and share our notes and comments on the forum. Have a look in the Live Tasting forum for past events.

They are a great way to meet people on the forum, chat about your experiences and learn something new about the whiskies you have, and we all end up having a good time.

Please feel free to join in and post any comments or tasting notes you have. Tasting notes can be added using the Tasting Note tab on the postings page. (Note, the Age field on the tasting must be a number such as 7,9,10,18)

We look forward to seeing you beginning Friday evening...

Click here

[mikeymad]

Dang I will be off at WhiskyFest tonight... (hope to try the new Set of Dalmore's)... Will have to post some notes at some point...

Cheers,

[Ganga]

I've got a couple of older Dalmores to try tomorrow. I will shoot for about 8 PM GMT.

[Willie JJ]

I'll be a bit later than that as I've got to visit my mother in hospital until 8pm and then get home and then probably make my sister tea as she will be driving, etc., etc. Hopefully I can get on about 10pm.

I haven't figured out if I've got anything to try yet though. Might need to open something.

[Ganga]

Willie in need of malt.

S'tan and I are drammin' some Dalmore tonight. We are going to start with a recent Dalmore 12 (L8).

Nose: chocolate, malt, straw, nutty, wax
Palate: verathaned oak, light oranges, waxy feel
Finish: moderate, unripe oranges

[Ganga]

Dalmore 12, circa 1998

Nose: citrus, sandalwood, waxiness, sweet ham on the grill
Palate: waxy, apples, sawdust
Finish: longer and drier, dried oranges

[pkt77242]

Nice notes Ganga. I might need to break out my two samples in a couple of minutes. Hopefully the baby doesn't wake up.

Sean

[Ganga]

Dalmore 12, circa 1980s. Silver Stag.

Nose: caramel, cinnamon dough, wax
Palate: nutmeg, basil, ivy, caramel, black whip licorice
Finish: moderate, licorice

[Ganga]

Thanks Sean. S'tan and I are doing comparative notes on the whisky. He's got a glencairn and I have a brandy glass.

[Ganga]

Dalmore Cigar Malt original US release.

Nose: smokey caramel, stewed oranges, gluey dough, used cinnamon sticks
Palate: mulled orange cinnamon cider, cedar shavings
Finish: long, cinnamon

[Ganga]

Dalmore 23, Glenhaven, 3.71, 58.3%

Nose: mixed spices, sandalwood, lemons, kernels
Palate: spicey, wax, shoe leather, lemon peels
Finish: long, citric

Water - Much better with water. Things come more into balance.

[Willie JJ]

Made it at last. I can't find much in the way of Dalmore open. I have a mini of the Cigar Malt and I'll open something else I think. I'll start with the Cigar Malt.

[pkt77242]

Willie, I will join you wth a Cigar Malt.

Dalmore Cigar Malt
Brand : Dalmore Expression : Cigar Malt
Nose : Orange peel, wax, and spinach. Maybe an orange candle. Palate : slightly bitter orange. hints of mint, and spinach. Also some wood shavings. Finish : Medium, with some orange and banana. Also the wax is back. Comment : Better than I remember it but stll a little weak. Colour : The color of apple juice Score : 0
Age : 0 Years Old Vintage : 0 ABV : 40% Bottler : -	Type : - Region : - Water : None Ice : None Glass : Riedel SMS Notes : -
More tasting notes by None Please do not reproduce or copy this tasting note without permission.

Sean

[Willie JJ]

Dalmore Cigar Malt 40%

Nose: Oranges, even bitter oranges, but the bitterness is tempered with a dusting of sugar. Some marmalade notes. Maybe a hint of smoke.
Palate: Again with juicy orange and lots of barley sugar.
Finish: Medium length and fairly pleasant finish with a little bit of sherbet and a rush of wood spice.
Comment: A very pleasant dram. I wouldn't find it hard to tackle a bottle of this but I suspect the sugared orange theme might get a little boring after a while.

[Willie JJ]

Hi Sean
Sorry I was taking my time because I thought I was alone.

[Willie JJ]

Ok I need to pick one to open now. i think I'll have the 21yo OB at 43%.

[pkt77242]

New Dalmore 12 (Thank you for the sample, Jeff).

New Dalmore 12
Brand : Dalmore Expression : -
Nose : orange, and tea. slightly weak. Wax and almonds. Palate : orange blossom tea, and wax. Orange peel and a nuttiness. Finish : Mint and lemon. Short. Comment : A little weak (ok very weak) for my tastes. Put this baby at 46% and UCF and then lets talk. Colour : - Score : 0
Age : 12 Years Old Vintage : 0 ABV : 40% Bottler : -	Type : Single Malt Region : - Water : None Ice : None Glass : Riedel SMS Notes : -
More tasting notes by None Please do not reproduce or copy this tasting note without permission.

Sean

[pkt77242]

Ok I need to pick one to open now. i think I'll have the 21yo OB at 43%.

No problem Willie, I am interested to see your notes on the 21 as I have seen it out here but I have never been a big fan of Dalmore (well at least the official bottlings as I find them slightly on the weak sides).

Sean

[Willie JJ]

The 21yo is a bottle only for export markets like the US Sean. I was lucky to have someone to help me get one. First impressions are very good.

[Willie JJ]

Dalmore 21yo OB 43%

Nose: Much more going on here than there is in the Cigar Malt. The citrus is still there, but it's less fresh; more like stewed oranges. Loads of wood influence here too with bung cloth, camphor, and maybe just a drop of linseed oil which softens the wax. Some cocoa as well.
Palate: The delivery is lovely. Again with lots of citrus, but its intermingled with heaps of spices and juicy malt.
Finish: This is where the dram really takes off for me. Waves of sugar and spice drifting into the middle distance. Definitely getting some Love Hearts here.
Comment: I don't suppose that anyone will be surprised that I would have loved to try this at full strength, but even at 43% this is a good dram. It does just thin out a tiny bit, but its not seriously underpowered. Of course I've just opened the bottle so it may change a little as the air gets at it, but I'm not sorry I bought this stuff. It is very nice.

[Willie JJ]

I've heard it said that Richard Patterson is inclined to use a lot of caramel to bring the colour of Dalmore up and certainly the two I've had tonight were dark, especially the 21yo. Is that responsible for the flattening of flavour that Jim Murray claims? I don't know and I would really need to do a blind tasting of coloured and uncoloured malt to see if I could spot it. The Malt Maniacs seemed to find that it did make a change but that they preferred it with the caramel. Certainly with these two examples of Dalmore the thing that attracts my attention is the strength rather than a sense of caramel. I think if they were UCF at 46% then that would have more impact on the product than removal of the caramel (assuming it is there).

[Willie JJ]

I'm having more of the 21yo now as I rather enjoyed it. I don't want to open another as I'm trying to restrain the number of open bottles. The question is what should I do now; keep drinking Dalmore, or maybe have a go at some of the tastings I missed? Decisions, decisions.

[pkt77242]

Thank you for the nice notes on the 21yo Willie. I agree give me some extra abv and UCF.

Sean

[Willie JJ]

Of course that might just be us Sean. I've heard some folk actually put water in their whisky so increasing the strength wouldn't help them much.

[Ganga]

I checked in and no one was around. Then I had errands to run so I'm back now. Willie, interesting notes on the 21. I hadn't heard the stories about Patterson before. What I can tell you is that last night S'tan and I went through a bottl of 12 that was an L8 and a bottle from around 1998. There was a tremendous difference in color. The 2008 version was reddish to reddish gold while the 1998 was more of a dark tan. Maybe this week I can get some side by side pics of the two whiskies (and get Mikey to go through the Dalmores).