Dalmore 12 Year Black Isle

The Dalmore Black Isle, an early 2000s travel retail bottling now discontinued, comes in a 1-liter bottle. This whisky celebrates the renowned Scottish 'Black Isle,' which is neither an island nor black. In reality, the Black Isle is a highly fertile, green peninsula situated opposite The Dalmore distillery. Distillery workers appreciated this landscape, and this bottling serves as a tribute to that beautiful location. Bottled at 40% ABV, this whisky was matured 50% in European oak and 50% in American white oak, displaying a deep copper color. On the nose, it's perfect. Cherries, red fruits, caramel, coffee with milk, sherry, glue, dark chocolate, and maple syrup. After the initial taste, it revealed an overload of maple syrup mixed with coffee beans and maraschino cherries. Amazing. On the palate, the first sip is very fruity! Orange juice, lemon, lime – very citrusy. Ginger spice. Everything changes with the second sip, revealing a sweeter profile: honey, maple, and caramel. Aftertaste is really interesting. The cleanest red licorice candy (the unchewable kind), clove, ginger. Tobacco bitterness. Finally, after a few sips, it presented CANDY BEANS, extremely clean and accurate. Incredible. Overall, as a large individual, I truly enjoyed this whisky. But I want to delve deeper into my conclusions. I've read about how exceptional Dalmore was in the past and how mediocre it is now. Listen, I love, truly love, current Dalmore expressions, and I don't find them mediocre; in fact, I consider it one of the best distilleries ever. HOWEVER, having sampled 3 or 4 older expressions, I can honestly say those antique bottles are superior. It's true, Dalmore before 2010 produced more elegant and complex whiskies. That doesn't imply the current expressions are bad; they are actually very good. With all that said, my score for this highly enjoyable whisky is a well-deserved 93 out of 100. Cheers.