Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old Whisky Review!

A reasonably priced 15-year old single malt from an often-overlooked Highland distillery - although it could also pass for Speyside geographically. My first time trying it too!

Dalwhinnie, pronounced "dell-winny" and derived from the Gaelic for "meeting place", has to be one of the prettiest malt distilleries in Scotland. But that's not really down to the buildings themselves, but to its location in the village of the same name. Dalwhinnie sits at the south-western end of the strikingly beautiful and very dramatic Cairngorms National Park and the Grampian mountains, just over an hour's drive south of Inverness. The scenery in the area is absolutely stunning, with massive mountain ranges, often sporting snow caps, waterfalls and very little intrusive human development. Apart from the A9, at least, which is the main highway from the Highlands to the South of Scotland, and also of course the distillery. Dalwhinnie Distillery is owned by Diageo and is one of their six "Classic Malts", with this 15-year old expression being the flagship bottling, joined by an Oloroso sherry-finished 'Distillers Edition' and the controversial 'Winter's Gold' expression - controversial because it's recommended to be served very chilled - "straight from the freezer, and in a chilled glass". Although that might be intended to bring the whisky down to the ambient temperatures at the distillery - it can be bitterly cold at almost any time of year, and is also three hundred metres above sea level. I haven't tasted that last one myself so I'll reserve judgement, but there are certainly a growing number of Scotch whiskies that are "designed" to be served chilled, and this was one of the first. That said, even the flagship 15-year old that we're looking at today is said to be "great when chilled". A good choice for the Australian summer, then? I won't be testing that out, though.

Dalwhinnie's main claim to fame is their worm tub condensers, a more traditional type of spirit condenser which results in a weighty and more sulphurous (meaty / vegetal) new make spirit, which sit directly in front of the distillery, basically in the car park. Thankfully they're elevated and shielded to protect them from rented campervans and confused tourists. Interestingly - and tellingly - in 1986 they actually removed the worm tubs and replaced them with modern shell & tube condensers, but the spirit was affected so dramatically that they switched back to worm tubs in 1995 - albeit with a slightly more modern design than the originals. Normally a distillery's condensers would be found inside or at the back of the still house, and certainly not visible from the main regional highway, but Dalwhinnie was built to face the now-defunct railway line and not said road, and the lyne arms coming from their single pair of pot stills actually run through the roof before connecting with the condensers. The distillery was founded in 1897 but was originally named Strathspey, then being re-named under new ownership only a year later. Just as well too, because aside from being the name of a small village on the south-western coast of Scotland, Strathspey is also a term often used to refer to the centre of the Speyside region and the upper part of the River Spey, which although technically in the same region is not particularly close to Dalwhinnie. So I'd say they avoided some future confusion by renaming the distillery after the village that it calls home.

The distillery actually uses very lightly peated malt in its production, much like northern stablemate Clynelish, and likewise you'll struggle to find any discernible influence in the finished product, particularly after 15 years of maturation. That may seem like a fairly high age for an entry level expression, and in today's whisky world it certainly is, but that is partly explained by two factoids: one, that the heavier, sulphurous new make spirit produced by those plain stills and their worm tub condensers can take a little longer to mellow and mature, and two, that the cold conditions at the distillery - and the externally-located condensers - mean that with the sharp drop in temperautre the spirit vapours rapidly condense back into liquid, resulting in even less copper contact during that crucial part of the process. Which is probably why those temporary shell & tube condensers had such a negative and marked effect on the spirit. Much like the other Diageo "Classic Malts" Dalwhinnie 15-year old has almost no information available on the type of casks that it was matured in. Aside from the age, the strength and the fact that it's a single malt Scotch whisky, you won't find any real details out there. That lack of transparency usually means that it has been matured in ex-bourbon casks, most likely refill, and it is of course chill filtered and artificially coloured. Points must be given though for the slightly higher bottling strength of 43% ABV, rather than the legal minimum of 40%, particularly with this being the entry level Dalwhinnie expression. It's also a reasonably priced malt for its age, at around $95 AUD on Australian shelves. Let's give it a shot!

Dalwhinnie 15-year old, 43%. Highlands, Scotland.
Presumably matured in refill ex-bourbon casks, no information available. Chill filtered, artificially coloured.

Colour: Gold. Probably not a huge amount of colouring added in fact, which is nice.

Nose: Hmm, like a cross between Clynelish & Craigellachie. Rich honey, But not overtly sweet, red apples, and a little dusty vegetal note - that'd be those worm tubs, then! Some light mint around the edges, with dried bitter lemon and dried flowers (potpourri). Dried herbs (sage?) and a little gravy powder come through with more time.

Texture: Light weight, dry, vegetal and lightly spicy. More Craigellachie than Clynelish now. No heat at all.

Taste: More savoury honey and dried bitter lemon, some drying wood spices too - think powdered cinnamon and powdered ginger, plus a little cayenne pepper. More dried flowers around the edges, along with that dusty vegetal note.

Finish: Short length. More spice - particularly powdered ginger now, and that dried bitter lemon, along with some burnt toffee and a little lime juice under that savoury honey and bitter root vegetables.

Score: 2.5 out of 5.

Notes: A perfectly enjoyable dram, and it's not the typical Speyside style that we expect from the region so it's definitely more suited to the Highland classification that they've given the distillery. The nose did remind me of both Clynelish and Craigellachie, but the Clynelish had disappeared by the time it landed on the palate, it was more Craigellachie there but with more dryness and less weight. Which makes for a very easy drinking dram, without it being too boring in character. It all falls over in the finish though, the ABV doesn't help of course and it just doesn't have the staying power. It's a pleasant and interesting experience though, and I can actually see it working well on the rocks (ice) like they suggest. And I wouldn't say that about many drams, so maybe there's something to their claims. Even as it is it hit the spot quite nicely on this hot & humid summer's day.

For the price it's a reasonable offering, but it's almost exactly the same price as the Clynelish 14-year old and only a few dollars less than Craigellachie 13-year old, both of which are bottled at 46% and have more of a presence on the palate and finish. There was a 30-year old cask strength Dalwhinnie in 2019's Special Releases from Diageo, so I think I'll need to get my hands on a dram of that for my next Dalwhinnie experience - since it'll be over $1,200 AUD I don't have the disposable income to buy a bottle, and there are hardly any independent bottlings to be found.

Cheers!