Dalmore 1973 33 Year Old Haut Marbuzet Finish

Dalmore 1973 33 Year Old Haut Marbuzet

• Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Distillery Bottling

70cl / 45%

Part of the ‘Rare & Prestigious’ range from Whyte & Mackay. This 1973 Dalmore was originally matured in American White Oak casks before a second maturation for several years in Cabernet Sauvignon casks from Ch. Haut-Marbuzet, a Cru Bourgeois claret from the St. Estephe appellation. This is being styled as ‘The Ultimate Finish’ and comes in a suitably smart presentation box.

After the ‘treated’ one, here’s a fully ‘natural’ Dalmore. Colour: white wine. Nose: very interesting. It’s 21 years old but it could as well have been 8 or 10, as it’s all on fresh garden fruits at first nosing. Not so much pears but a lot of gooseberries, sweet apples, oranges again (typically Dalmore in my experience) and just touches of pineapples. What’s great here is that it’s all rounded off by the years but without any embarrassing vanilla notes or toasted oak. Very nice fresh fruity and mature Dalmore. Dalmore 1973 33 Year Old Haut Marbuzet Finish

With water: no changes at all, which isn’t bad news. Mouth (neat): exactly the same feelings and the same profile as on the nose. Big notes of garden fruits and oranges, both fresh and tinned. Touches of liquorice allsorts, pineapple drops, Spanish apple liqueur (Spanish because I haven’t seen that anywhere else)… Only touches of burnt wood in the background. With water: again, same, with only a few more spices. Hints of nutmeg. Finish: medium long, fresh and fruity, mainly on apples. Comments: this ‘young old one’ shows that Dalmore’s distillate is very classy, while most official bottlings do not really let it shine through the wood treatments. Having said that, both are of similar quality in my opinion so I won’t come up with a different score. Good stuff.