EScotland, Central Highlands: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Dalwhinnie

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Dalwhinnie distillerie
Dalwhinnie Distillery
Dalwhinnie,
Inverness-shire
PH19 1AB
+44 1540 672 219
Owner: United Distillers & Vintners (Diageo) Ltd
Creation date 1897

Photos

In 1897, John Grant, George Sellar and Alexander Mackenzie founded the Strathspey distillery. Production started in 1898 but unfortunately the society was bankrupt the same year.
The distillery was sold to A.P. Blyth in 1898 for his son who renamed it Dalwhinnie. Later, in 1905, the American Cook & Bernheimer took control over the distillery. The American distiller was looking for malts to produce blended whiskies for the American market.
This is the very first American investment in the Scotch whisky industry. The American adventure continued until the prohibition in the United States in 1920, and the distillery returned to the Scottish fold by the buying up by Lord James Calder, shareholder of Macdonald Greenlees, a whisky blender.
After macDonald Greenlees has been taken over by the DCL, Dalwhinnie became part of another blenders group, James Buchanan, famous for his Black&White blended whisky.
A fire in 1934 stopped the production for 3 years, and the reopening in 1938 was for a short time, because the second World War made whisky business impossible because of a lack of barley.
Since the reopening in 1947, very few things happened to the distillery, except the suppression of the malting floors in 1968. Dalwhinnie became famous worldwide because its owners, UDV, included the brand in their famous series "Classic Malts", launched in 1988.
Despite this, only 10% of the production is marketed as single malt, the remaining being used among other in the Black & White blends.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

Dalwhinnie
whisky
O.B. 15 years 16
Distillers edition 1985 16 3/4
See Help 0 - 40 € 40 - 80 € 80 - 120 € 120 - 160 € 160 - 200 € 200 - 240 € 240 - 280 € > 280 €
Dalwhinnie: official bottlings
 

Dalwhinnie 15 years
Age
 15 years
Alcohol
 43°
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros< 25 euros
 
 
The colour is yellow gold. The nose, spicy, "grassy" and slightly smoked evokes the wax and honey but remains close to barley.
The sweet palate confirms the nose.
The milky finish is a bit bitter, and has some liquorice, smoked barley, lemon grass and anise hints,.

(la Maison du Whisky)

 A good whisky from the Classic Malts series. But it did not leave me an imperishable memory. It is on its place in each whisky collection, but is not really exceptional.

The spicy but rather vague nose evokes the barley with some difficult to define hints, probably some rather acid honey (?). The same feeling is present in the palate. The finish is relatively short, and here again, the barley with some more acid touches is present.

Spices on a cereal background, that what the nose detects. In the palate, a rather flat taste consisting of barley enhanced by some slightly acid hints. The finish is rather short, but quite interesting because some new flavors appear, like nice liquorice hints on a slightly woody background.

 Comment by Henrik Johansson

Date of tasting: 8/12 2007
Appearance: Pale gold, surprisingly light and clear
Nose: Very clean and fresh, simple and pleasant nose with fruity, solvent hints like pear drops, lemon and some acetone. There's a very lightly sherried hint reminiscent of chardonnay, some hay-like or green-house scents and mossy water. It's all very delicate, and doesn't really need diluting.
Body: On the lighter side, but firm
Palate: Sweet, fresh, simple and pleasant just like the nose. The dominant flavours are sweetish and slightly acidic fruits and malt. Medium finish. Quite well balanced, but sort of unsatisfying and just a tad bland. Works very well when one's in the mood for something like this.

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Dalwhinnie
1985
Distillers edition
Age
15 years
Alcohol
 43°
Particularity
 double maturation
Cask
 Sherry Oloroso
Bottler
 Official
=25 euros=25 euros
 
The colour is amber, the nose wavering between sweetness and dryness reveals nut hints and a touch of smoke.
The palate, more woody and slightly peaty is smooth with sweet sherry hints.
The finish is long and vegetable.

(la Maison du Whisky)

Dalwhinnie is part of the "Classic Malts" collection of United Distillers. This special "Distillers edition" was matured in sherry Aloroso casks, and the final result is very good, that's all as far as I am concerned.

At the second tasting, I had a long hesitation before I could rate this whisky. Something difficult to define, a nice smell, but without anything special, a nice nice taste, and that's it, without the fragrances explosions which are so characteristic of great whiskies. A nice finish, but not really special. The first impression is confirmed.

The third tasting took place several month later, and its conclusions were very different of the first ones. Own taste evolution? Chemical reaction with the air? The nose is rather clean, revealing malt notes, with smoke and dry fruit hints. The taste in the palate is rather bitter (wood, walnuts) on a background of malt. Sherry is detected as well. A nice finish, with some rather pleasant bitter hints.

The first nose is rather discrete but after a while spices, dried fruits ans other malty smells appear, together with some smoke on the background. In the palate this whisky is very smooth with however a kind of bitterness. Between banana and walnut. A rather long finish swinging between malty sweetness and woody bitterness with even a touch of citrus acidity, quickly dominated by the hints of ripe fruits.

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Central Highlands

Central Highlands map

The County of Perth, between the Lowlands and the Higlands is famous for its hilly landscapes.
About one hundred distilleries were settled in the area during the 19th century, and just a few of them survived, and some others were build during the 20th century. The area is wider than just the Perth county, as Dalwinnie, in the South of Inverness county is also included in that area.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
about the Central Highlands area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please
click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow

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