23/10/2020 One Dalmore

This one is a leftover from the Adelphi tasting in May.

Dalmore 21yo 1998/2019 (57.2%, Adelphi Limited, Refill Bourbon Cask, C#8217, 132b): nose: compote is the loud, first note, yet it is quickly pushed aside by warm clay, plasticine and warmed rubber (think: hot water bottle). The back of the nose has something that reminds me of vegetation, maybe a geranium planter, or sherbet? The compotes come back, even if I cannot clearly decide between greengage, yellow plum and green-tomato chutney. Later on, a whiff of oiled wood comes up, mahogany or teak -- actually, it is definitely teak! With water, the nose is more boldly fruity, presenting cut plums, ripe bananas, mango slices, passion fruits in a new wicker basket.  Woah! Mouth: sharp and slightly astringent, it is edgy more than lively. Tomato chutney (not green tomatoes, this time; regular red), which includes the fruit's acidity and some wood polish... Oh! Tropical fruits rear their heads: Chinese gooseberry, passion fruit, neither of them fully ripe, therefore acidic and gently bitter. Tinned pineapple, left in an open tin for too long and tainted by the metal, tin-tainted papaya too, fruit juice, spilled on a teak plank. All that is promising, yet clumsy: the alcohol integration is not optimal and the fruit/tin/wood combination is a bit shaky. It becomes more stable on the palate with the addition of water; the wood and fruit coexist  more peacefully, if not in total harmony. Strangely water does not tone down the alcohol, which remains as present as when undiluted. It does remove the bitter, metallic edge, on the other hand, at least partly, and that allows currant juice to join forces with the (shyer) tropical fruit. Finish: never-ending, it brings back some of the fruit (passion) with more wood than tin, this time, which is probably good news. It leaves a milky impression in the gob, holding hands with the bitterness of tropical-fruit stones (mango or mangosteen). The finish benefits from water too: it tones down the bitterness, reducing it to that of currant skins. The fruity notes tend towards currants, now, instead of passion and mango. Still, it could be related to a Passõa-and-currant-juice cocktail. Boy, is this weird, or what? On neat taste alone, it probably deserves 7, but the general evolution of the whisky over time, especially with water, and those unexpected tropical fruits convince me to go higher. Entertaining dram, to say the least. 8/10