Dalmore 14 Years Old Darkness (MoM)

The bottler Master of Malt bottled this Dalmore, a 14 year old, bottled at 55.9%. Dalmore is a rich, chocolate and orange Highland single malt, deeply marked by sherry wood. The rich, dried fruit style runs through the core range, from the twelve year old upward.

The spirit was made in copper stills whose water jackets give a heavy make, for a heavy, rich make that suits aged sherry wood. An Oloroso hogshead lent dried fruit, walnut and a dark, treacly depth, soaked up by the heavy spirit. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the malt, the rich body fuller and darker. Long ageing turns the fresh orange towards marmalade, dark chocolate, coffee and a warm spice. Most expressions are finished in aged sherry wood, giving orange, chocolate and treacle. The thick spirit shows the sherry clearly, dried fruit and orange over a malty depth.

At its natural 55.9% it is concentrated. A rich, oily chocolate orange, with dried fruit, chocolate and orange from the cask. A baked fruit and a warm spice lift it. The close is long, fruit over a rich sherry. This is the Royal Stag malt of the Cromarty Firth.