Table Of Contents
The Details
| Rating | 93 |
| Style |
Scotch Whiskey |
| Produced In | Scotland |
| ABV | 43.8% |
| Availability | Limited |
| Price | $6,000.00 |
| Reviewed By | |
| Review Updated | 2024-09-30 |
The Dalmore 30 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2024) Review
The Dalmore’s latest super-premium expression is a 30 year old single malt with just 936 bottles released globally (and a suggested retail price of around $6,000).
The whisky comprising the 2024 release of The Dalmore 30 Year Old — which varies from one year’s bottling to the next — was distilled on Nov. 20, 1991. It spent most of its aging cycle in ex-bourbon barrels before a two-year finish in Colheita and Tawny Port pipes from Graham’s Port. (For those who want even more detail on cask pedigree, those pipes previously held Graham's 1982 Single Harvest Port.)
Let’s see how this rare Highland single malt tastes!
The Dalmore 30 Year Old Scotch: Stats and Availability
The 2024 edition of The Dalmore 30 Year Old Scotch carries a suggested retail price of $6,000. Only 936 bottles were released globally. If you’re in the market for a bottle — and a true splurge — some select high-end retailers are listing it for right around MSRP. (The Dalmore’s website also has a geographic retail locator for those looking to pick up a bottle in person.)
The Dalmore 30 Year Old Scotch Review
As with all of VinePair’s whisky reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.
Nose
The nose starts with raisins — both red and golden — along with currents of both vanilla and almond extracts. It’s fruity and slightly medicinal, but the latter notes quickly shift to a series of captivating, malt-forward aromas paired with fresh fruit influence from (one would assume) the port casks. When those cereal and fruit elements meet, the scent experience is akin to warm porridge and cut strawberries — grainy and tart, with enough fructose to provide sweet contrast.
Deeper in comes spice, not terribly powerful or nostril-numbing, but just enough to evoke finely ground cinnamon and fresh clove. Even later on — after well over five minutes resting in the Glencairn — I smell pencil rubber and hints of yellow tropical fruit similar to what one might nose on a chilled Chardonnay.
Whiffs of cured tobacco bookend the nose with a tannic and semi-vegetal segment. I could spend a long time on just this component; there’s quite a bit to pick apart, all of it quite captivating.
Taste
After those tropical fruit aromas, the first couple sips are slightly drier than anticipated, instead leaning into light cinnamon spice, nutmeg, dried oak, and espresso. Next comes tanned leather and more tobacco leaf.
That tannic, spice-and-coffee combo throws me for a temporary loop, but it’s not an unpleasant one. At 43.8 percent ABV, the whisky has enough body and heat to efficiently coat the palate, allowing those early notes to sing while others take their time to emerge.
Around the midpalate on the third sip, both fruit and grain finally make their combined presence known. Tart blackberry, mulberry, and ripe guava develop across the tongue, the primary (but in reality not exclusive) fruit flavors. The malt appears as toasted bread, surprisingly close to pumpernickel rye.
With this single malt, more sips bring more tannins, especially toward the back palate: coffee, leather (lighter than at first), cigar box, and savory pan sauce.
There’s an interesting narrative here as far as taste. The palate starts tannic (heavy on leather and tobacco), evolves to fruit and malt, then moves back to tannic (coffee beans, browning seasoning/sauce), ending in leather and sandalwood right before the finish.
Finish
Fruit, in the form of dark cherry and the white section of orange rinds. and tannins reach a nice harmony on the long finish, with a bit more chocolate than on the palate. As sweetness gradually dies down, licorice and gentian roots emerge for some lingering, amaro-adjacent bitterness to pair with robust oak.
The Dalmore 30 Year Old Scotch Rating
93/100
Recap
Fans of full-bodied, tannic Scotch will have lots to chew on here. The Dalmore 30 Year pulls few if any punches and isn’t afraid to pair fruit with a hefty dose of leather and tobacco. It’s not a delicate dram in the traditional sensee, and things waffle just slightly in the first couple sips. But for those lucky enough to try it, patience pays off in a big way.
*Image retrieved from The Dalmore
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