Whisky: Dalmunach 6 Year, Dràm Mòr

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 58.2%

Cask: First Fill Bourbon Finish

Age: 6 Years (Bottled 2022)

Nose: Caramel, pineapple cakes, holiday spices: ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, dulce de leche, coconut cream, herbal, bergamot and earl grey tea flavored pudding.

Palate: Medium-bodied, caramel and herbal, dulce de leche, browned butter mochi, banana leaf, hints of charred herbs and burnt caramel, dank herbal toward the end with hints of yeast and pilsner hops.

Finish: Medium to long with toffee and herbs, hints of heat.

Score: 5

Mental Image: Workshopping Holiday Puddings

Narrative & Notes: I poured this as dram #5 on a “Holiday Mystery Whisky Advent Calendar” and guessed it was a 10-14-Year-old Teaninich. I was not surprised that I missed this one— I have never tasted anything from Dalmunach before! I have to hand it to my buddies who organized this calendar; twice in the first five drams, I encountered a new distillery. That was not something I was expecting at all, and a blind advent calendar was the perfect format for an introduction!

Though I scored this a bit higher than the Nc’Nean I tried a few days ago, I thought the Nc’Nean had more unique elements. This Dalmunach was fairly approachable with just a little bit of heat on the nose and palate— heat which did linger on the finish for a slightly spicy send-off. The flavors were generally well-integrated with a funky-hoppy herbal finish that felt very intentional, a sort of homage or recreation of notes which used to be much more common on whisky.

Overall, an intriguing malt! Dalmunach is the newest member of the Chivas stable and sits on the old Imperial Distillery campus, which the company mothballed in 1998 and tore down in 2012. The distillery has a theoretical capacity of 10 million liters per year which puts it within the top ten biggest single malt distilleries in Scotland by capacity. I have a feeling we will see more Dalmunach in the future!

Image Credit: Dràm Mòr