Visiting Dalmore
The Dalmore distillery is idyllically situated in the Scottish Highlands, on the banks of the river Alness.
If you visit it, as we did, from London, you would take a half hour or so drive from Inverness airport and marvel at the breathtaking scenery along the way.
Forests alternate with lakes, the odd seal is languidly spread atop a rock, and the majestic landscape is quite undisturbed by human intervention as far as the eye can see.
The Dalmore is at the doorstep of the Novar Estate, a 20 000 acre property owned for centuries and to this day by the Munro-Ferguson family.
Visitors are often entertained at the Ardtalla, a relatively recent conversion of a stable block that combines the charm of an old house with the comforts of a 5 star hotel.
Every room is different at the Ardtalla but all are spacious, with large sink-in beds and fantastic views across the meadows and towards the forests.
The central hall consists of several large entertaining rooms, including a cosy sitting room with a wood burning fireplace and a games room on the upper floor.
Our visit began, appropriately enough, with a welcoming dram of the King Alexander III whisky in the reception room of the distillery itself.
Lunch was a delicious venison stew and baked vegetables, followed by a pistachio and raspberry pie, washed down with a robust Bordeaux.
We were introduced to the distillery by degrees, in the order in which the whisky is made, preceded by a brief history of Dalmore and the Mackenzie Clan who owned the distillery until it was acquired by Whyte&McKay.
The distinctive stag head on the Dalmore whisky bottles refers to the story of how the Scottish King Alexander was saved from a stag by an ancestor of Clan Mackenzie (family motto is “I Shine, not Burn’)
The limited Alexander III release refers to the same story.
The Mackenzies live to this day in one of the few owner-occupied Scottish castles, Castle Leod, a few minute drive from Dalmore.
Dalmore takes great pride in the quasi-artisanal production of its whiskies. For the uninitiated, whisky is produced from malted barley, yeast and water – in this case, Highlands water from the Alness river.
The fermentation takes place in large vats and the wash makes its way to the distillery room which is something to behold: vast copper stills, each different from the other, distil and condense the precious liquid until it is carefully adjusted for strength.
The Dalmore is unique in its maturing process that also gives it its unique character.
The raw spirit spends varying number of years in six different casks, depending on the finish required.
Wooden casks from Marsala, Madeira, Bourbon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port and Sherry Oloroso are used for maturing the whisky, each infusing it with subtle but detectable scents and flavours of caramel, coffee, chocolate, citrus, red fruit.
The preponderance of this or that depends on the length of time the whisky has aged in a particular cask.
The matured alcohol varies in strength too, ranging from 40 to 48 degrees. From robust to mellow, each vintage has its own character and complexity, with some of them reminiscent of cognac in their sweetness.
This iconic malt is sold in specialist and duty free shops only. It is, by and large, a collectible whisky, especially the limited release editions.
The new limited release edition has yet to be named but has already been pre-sold to connoisseurs and collectors of the Dalmore brand.
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