Dalmunach from octave casks: do we need that?
Today is not so much about Dalmunach, which is for little under a decade now the workhorse distillery of Chivas/Pernod Ricard. The stamp on the tasting note of today is created by independent bottler Duncan Taylor. They have released no less than 64 expressions of Dalmunach that matured in octave casks. In all this time, I did not manage to taste one of them, until today! We found a sample from a small batch bottling for the German market.
Dalmunach 2016, 4 years old, bottled at 54,8 % by Duncan Taylor
First things first: For German importer Kirsch, a few sherry octave casks were combined by Duncan Taylor to produce 271 bottles. I will spare you the cask numbers, which sound more like a LOST combination for the lottery.
Upon Sipping: Octave casks are even smaller than Quarter casks, and if there is a kind of maturation I am not a big fan of, then it is these smaller casks. It always gives such a pressure-cooked feel to a whisky. But this is a batch, so maybe that will bring nuance? The aroma rising from the glass is strong on wood, some damp earth after spraying the garden in summer, and some spices. With some imagination, I can find dark berries. Maybe water will reveal more fruit later on, first a sip. Oh yes, there must be berries, because I can clearly taste them. Forest fruit tea. But then I swallow… that creates a very weird taste. Like drinking cigar leaves soaked water.
With water, I do detect more fruitiness. Indeed the berries come out, and some cherry, which is the translation of “kirsch”, is it not? Absolutely charming, but let us see if we managed to wash away these terrible liquid cigar leaves. Well, not entirely but enough to make it more enjoyable.
Word to the Wise: If it was not for that weird off-note, this would be a very nice whisky actually. On the other hand, the cask is so distracting that I had to check the sample bottle again to remind myself which distillery this stuff came from. Octave casks? The flavours are different, and if that was the goal, than mission accomplished.
Score: 78 points.
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