Annual editions of The Dalmore
Dalmore, one of the four distilleries owned by Whyte & Mackay, has been primarily targeting the premium and super premium segments for many years now. Today we learn of two more editions of vintage whisky from this renowned distillery, which will hit the shelves of specialty stores in December and are sure to become an object of interest for collectors and ordinary whisky consumers alike.
The first of these, Dalmore 2003 Vintage, is a beverage matured in a combination of bourbon barrels, Riversaltes wine, and Amoroso and Matusalem sherry types. It was bottled as a beverage with a strength of 46.8% vol., which suggests that cold filtration has been abandoned in its case.
The second new edition of the whisky is Dalmore 2007 Vintage, which is a marriage of the contents of bourbon, marsala and Matusalem, Apostoles and Amoroso sherry casks. The alcohol content of this whisky is 46.5% vol., which also indicates cold unfiltered whisky.
The selection of casks and their collation is a collaborative effort between Gregg Glass, who serves as Dalmore's Master Whisky Maker, and the famous Richard Paterson, Dalmore's Master Distiller. For five years now, Dalmore has maintained the tradition of selecting exceptional, outstanding barrels just in November. Only barrels aged in historic warehouses at the distillery's site on the Cromarty Firth bay, where the waters of the River Averon flow into the bay, in the far north of Scotland, are then considered.
Both editions are limited, the number of barrels used to put them together is limited, but the manufacturer is silent on the size of each edition. What we do know is that the purchase of a single bottle of Dalmore 2003 Vintage will involve an expenditure of around £350, while a bottle of Dalmore 2007 Vintage can be bought for as little as the equivalent of £150.
Founded in 1839, the Dalmore distillery appears to be shifting its emphasis away from the super premium and collector market. The area of interest of distillery owners increasingly includes ordinary lovers of malt whisky, which manifests itself in the bottling of less exclusive editions, and results in a significant increase in sales of. So much so that Dalmore is considering expanding the plant and doubling its production capacity. We can expect heavy investment and construction work in Dalmore over the next few years. The rather unusual arrangement of alembics of various shapes and sizes is to be carefully copied, including the characteristic water jackets around the necks of the second-distillation alembics (spirit stills), through which the level of reflux can be regulated. Eventually the distillery - already not the smallest, with a potential of 4.5 million liters of alcohol per year - will double its capacity, moving closer to the top of the largest producers of Scotch malt whisky.
Of interest related to the history of the Dalmore distillery, it is perhaps worth recalling an episode from the First World War, when the then-defunct distillery was used as a plant for the manufacture of American naval mines.
Traditionally, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the current range of Dalmore whisky, available through the House of Whisky Online. It includes both ordinary, everyday liquors and extremely rare and valuable collector's items. In other words, there is something for everyone with us.
[30.11.2022 / photo: The Dalmore]