Dalmore 15 Year Old

I had the chance to sit down with a good friend of mine to taste a few bottles that he brought back with him from Scotland. His name is Cliff Barackman (one of the cast members of the Animal Planet cable TV program called "Finding Bigfoot"). While in Scotland, he bought three bottles: Old Pulteney 12, Dalmore 15, and a rare bottling of the Spirit of Loch Ness whisky.

Cliff and I filmed a short little video, and then proceeded to analyze the Dalmore 15 in depth. Here are my tasting notes:

Color: Deep chestnut reddish brown.

Nose: Strong maple presence, along with brown sugar, orange Crush, and a whiff of leather.

Palate: The maple is gone, replaced by honey suckle, honey comb, bitter oak, a slight grassiness, and white pepper.

Finish: Medium. A bit more honey, hay, pepper, and a final presence of bitter oak that reminds one of orange peel.

Final notes: Not an overtly complex dram, per se, and there is a touch of cloying graininess in there which tends to detract from the overall taste experience. E150a perhaps? Well, it's hard to say for sure.

I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down with Cliff to sample his new treasures. The Old Pulteney 12 seemed far better than what I remember buying here in Oregon. It was smoother, and fresher, with a lovely swirling presence. Yes, the nose on the Dalmore was more dramatic, but I must say that I preferred the palate of the Old Pulteney.

As for that mysterious Spirit of Loch Ness whisky, it seemed a bit mercurial in the way it interacted with my palate. At times, it was just delicious, and then it seemed a bit stale. The overall impression was of a fairly sweet whisky and not terribly complex. This said, it was my girlfriend's favorite of the bunch. She liked it very much.

Cliff had specifically told the sales clerk at a store on the banks of Loch Ness that he wanted to buy whiskies unavailable in the United States. I'm not terribly impressed with that clerk for steering him towards Dalmore 15 and especially towards Old Pulteney 12, which is fairly common in the States, particularly in Oregon. Any whisky seller worth his salt would know that OP 12 is readily available stateside. This said, it certainly was a far better version of that whisky than what I have tasted here.

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