Dalmore Constellation Collection 30 Years Old 1981

Dalmore from the distillery, a 30 year old, from 1981, cask 3, at 54%, 669 bottles in all. Dalmore is a full bodied, sherried Highland single malt from the shores of the Cromarty Firth. The rich, dried fruit style runs through the core range, from the twelve year old upward.

The spirit was worked through flat topped and water jacketed stills for a rich, oily spirit, for a heavy, rich make that suits aged sherry wood. Maturation in an Oloroso butt laid dried fruit, treacle and dark chocolate over the oily malt. Ethereal and old, decades draw the malt to a rich, waxy depth of sotolon, old oak and dried fruit. The full bodied make rewards a long, sherried maturation in good wood. Years in oak round the spirit, the fruit deepening to chocolate, marmalade and treacle. The Mackenzie clan ran it from 1867, and gave it the twelve pointed Royal Stag, after an ancestor saved King Alexander III from a charging stag in 1263.

At its natural 54% it is concentrated. Dried fruit, orange and a treacly malt, with dried fruit, chocolate and orange from the cask. The texture is thick and oily, the fruit lifted by a rich sherry. A full, sherried finish ends on orange and dark chocolate. This is Dalmore, rich with orange and dark chocolate.