Review #106: Stimulating Sedation 13.78 (Dalmore)

This is part of our March SMWS haul, which was partially motivated by SWMS’s free shipping offer through March and mostly motivated because we’ve been stuck in a shelter in place order – and while some people hoard toilet paper, we hoard scotch.

After we wrote our Dalmore review, I realized that I had never tried a cask strength Dalmore (SMWS distillery code 13). Enter one of my favorite comics:

So let’s dig into this, shall we?

Quick overview of our scoring system. Note that we try to give a “5” for an average whisky, which is lower than standard whisky scoring guides (typically around 80).

Additional Information

• Age: 12 years
• ABV: 61.0%
• Cask: 1st fill barrel/ex-bourbon
• Region: Highland
• 1 of 199 bottles
• Society Cask Number 13.78

About Dalmore

• Founded by Alexander Matheson, who made a fortune in the Chinese opium trade and retired to Scotland at only 34 years old. He never operated it but instead leased it to the Sunderland family, who were the ones who actually ran the distillery.
• Later purchased by the Mackenzie family, who were the ones who started the stag crest on the bottles. The Mackenzie clan’s chief had legendarily saved the Scottish King, Alexander III, from a charging royal stag and in gratitude, Alexander III bestowed upon the Mackenzie clan the right to use the royal stag as a symbol.