Dalmore 12 Year Old
Nice, but nice enough?
0 379
Review by @AKGcandlefish
- Nose23
- Taste17
- Finish19
- Balance20
- Overall79
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Color: dark honey.
Nose: a bouquet of spiced sweets. I'm initially reminded of mulled wine and hot apple cider, with hints of brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Very fruity, with orange peels, raisins, and chocolate covered cherries in the mix. Just a very pleasing nose. I could breath this one forever.
Body: medium.
Palate: not at all what I expected from the nose. Not very sweet. Oaky with a hint of salt water taffy. Nice, but not terribly complex.
Finish: very warm and relatively long for what many would consider an entry level scotch. I taste dark chocolate and almonds.
I've read some of the reviews here and on other sites around the web, and it seems like everyone gets something different from the Dalmore 12-year. I just love the way this one smells, but the taste was kind of unremarkable to me. If this were a $30 bottle, I couldn't recommend it highly enough, but at $50 a bottle, I'd expect a little more complexity. Definitely one to try some time, if for no other reason than to add the gorgeous bottle to your collection, but I don't know if I'd reach for this one again, given the price point.
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Based on varied impressions of others and what I have sampled of it, I have to think that Dalmore 12 has a lot of batch variation. Why else would some be so enthusiastic about it and others find it soooo bland? The several samples I have had from a single bottle of it taste just as you have said "...the taste was kind of unremarkable to me." Nothin' much there. Even for $ 30 I wouldn't want a bottle that tasted like the one I've shared with @JeffC. I'd rather pick up a decent blended Scotch I don't have yet, like the current batch of Famous Grouse Gold Reserve.
All of that said, another batch of Dalmore 12 from several years ago, or a year or two into the future might be a lot more interesting. These whiskies do often change and vary a lot over time.