Dalmore 14 Years Old 2007 Cask #3065 (Adelphi)

The bottler Adelphi bottled this Dalmore, a 14 year old, distilled in 2007, from cask 3065, bottled at 54%, one of 291 bottles. Dalmore is the Highland malt of the Royal Stag, rich with orange, chocolate and sherry. It is owned by Whyte and Mackay, and its King Alexander III bottling nods to the clan legend.

It was worked through flat topped and water jacketed stills for a rich, oily spirit, building the luscious Dalmore style. Maturation in an Oloroso butt laid dried fruit, treacle and dark chocolate over the oily malt. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin settling into vanilla as ethyl esters lend a riper orange and dried fruit. The rich, oily spirit takes cask flavour superbly, especially aged sherry wood. The Royal Stag style is built on rich spirit and deep sherry wood. Long ageing turns the fresh orange towards marmalade, dark chocolate, coffee and a warm spice.

At its natural 54% it is concentrated. Orange, treacle and a warm spice, with dried fruit, chocolate and orange from the cask. The texture is thick and oily, the fruit lifted by a rich sherry. A long, opulent finish carries a chocolate orange depth. This is a sherried Highland single malt of real depth.