30/03/2026 Dalmunach

Dalmunach 10yo 2015/2025 (58.5%, Cadenhead Club, Oak Casks + 3 x Oloroso Hogsheads since 2024, 1032b): we tried this one recently in rushed conditions. Let us spend more time with it. Nose: strangely silent. The cold weather, undoubtedly. There are whispers of mahogany and swimming pools (chlorine, in other words), followed by cured fruits -- mostly apricots and oranges. It wakes up a little and gives increasing amounts of wood oil or oily wood. Teak and mahogany seem to shine brightest, but there may be others too. The second nose is not much more talkative. Perhaps it has lukewarm clean laundry, then warm orange marmalade with a sprinkle of ground white pepper. With some imagination, one may detect vegetables cooking water too. Mouth: it is a lot bolder, here. More oily wood accompanied by chocolate coulis and a thick liqueur, cherry or hazelnut. Chewing cranks up the wood oil and we find oily chestnut shells, walnut oil and Brazil nuts, as well as dried orange peels, orange oil and the bitterness that comes with that. It oscillates between nutty and citrus-y for the longest time -- and by 'citrus-y', I mean peels and oils, not juice or segments, save for a minute touch of blush orange via retro-nasal olfaction. The second sip is as hot as the first and also sweeter, full of warm marmalade on the blade of a butter knife, or in the bowl of a spoon. Yup, it has a metallic edge too, now. It is but fleeting, mind: marmalade really dominates, with dried oregano in the background. Finish: creamy and nutty, the finish has a nut-and-citrus liqueur, one in which wood oil and orange-peel oil compete for attention. It lingers like a gulp of Triple Sec, though oilier. Here, we find hazelnut-chocolate praline filled with mixed peel. That spells a clear bitterness, yet it is also rather more-ish. The second gulp brings chocolate and bitter marmalade together and adds some kind of icing, maybe slightly-crystallised mixed peel? In any case, it works well. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, SOB)