The Dalmore 18 Year Old

An opium smuggler gets a bit carried away and ends up as The Dalmore distillery founder. Guid!

The Dalmore is a distillery in Alness, Scotland, north of Inverness. Its location and flavor qualify it as a Highland malt. Hielan dram.

In 1839, Alexander Matheson invested profits from his illegal opium smuggling business to build The Dalmore Distillery in Scotland’s northern Highlands. There, he produced small batches of single malt Scotch Whisky until 1886, when the facility was sold to the MacKenzie family.

When a MacKenzie saved Scottish King Alexander III from a charging stag, the regent awarded the family with a 12-point stag’s head for its coat of arms that now appears on the label of every bottle the distillery produces. Recently, the MacKenzie motto “Luceo non Uro” or “I shine, not burn” has also been taken up by Dalmore. The Dalmore distillery is owned and operated by Whyte and Mackay.

Dalmore 18 is matured initially for 14 years in American white oak ex-Bourbon casks, the Whisky is then transferred to 30-year-old Matusalem Oloroso Sherry wood for a further four years. It is critically important that the distillery is located at sea level. Enveloped by the salt air, the sea-facing traditional dunnage warehouses provide the ideal conditions for maturation.

Smartass Corner:

In 1870 Dalmore became the first malt Whisky ever to be exported. To Australia, to be precise.