30/04/2021 Dalmore

Dalmore 15yo (40%, OB, b. ca 2020): this was the starter I never tried at the Christmas bash. Nose: it smells like breakfast in a Scottish lodge; warm cocoa, a gentle fire in the chimney and corduroy upholstery. The host might be frying a cooked breakfast in the kitchen, though that does not overpower the unmistakable mix of ambient humidity, outmoded velvet and warm, chocolate-y drinks taken in a plush (if old-fashioned) dining room. There is squeezed orange too, a bowl of prunes in juice on the buffet, and open jars of marmalade, ready to be spread. The rustic breakfast table has seen a number of licks of varnish, over the many decades, and it smells of encaustic, a little. Maybe, just maybe, there is even a whisper of acetone. The second nose is all about roasted coffee beans and charred breadcrumbs. Mouth: soft and gentle, breakfast-like, the attack has velvety hot chocolate, marmalade on toast, a yoghurt-y woodiness not too dissimilar to set honey, and, as one keeps it in the mouth, a developing spicy touch (ground cumin and coriander seeds, cracked black pepper). The second sip seems to crank up the bitterness, inviting toasted aniseed and nigella seeds to the table, still only in supporting roles to the chocolate. Marmalade takes a back seat and turns into charred mixed peel, or caramelised marmalade. Finish: superbly chocolate-y, here, with an added drop of mocha -- think of Côte d'Or's mocha Mignonettes. The finish is long, laced with bitter marmalade, and that bitterness grows -- first veering towards soft rubber, then Bakelite. It has more and more toasted notes, as time passes, with charred breadcrumbs first, then black cumin seeds, then nigella seeds. It stops short of liquorice, however. A decent starter dram. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, JA)