Whisky Review: Dalwhinnie 15 Year

I've reviewed this whisky once before, but that was from a dram at a bar, so I didn't feel completely confident about my assessment. Subsequently I picked up a 3x200 mL pack that included Glenkinchie 12, Oban 14, and Dalwhinnie 15 - the Classic Malts Gentle Collection. While I've found that too often 'gentle' is another way of saying 'bland' in the whisky world, I wanted to give it a fair chance.

Once again, I'll leave the history to Malt Madness, as it's fairly complicated. A few noteworthy things about Dalwhinnie is that the distillery is located at a higher altitude than almost any other in Scotland and that it still uses very old-style worm tub condensers, which contribute to the flavor of the spirit by reducing the amount of copper contact. As with most of Diageo's single malts, this one is reduced to 43% and chill filtered.

Dalwhinnie 15 Year

Nose: sweetly malty and grassy, lots of vanilla and fruity (raspberry) esters, very light sherry, barest hint of peat/vegetation, cotton candy, grape (purple?), apple cider, dates, graham crackers, cinnamon chocolate, and honey. After adding a few drops of water, it becomes flatter and more vegetal and oaky, the malt and vanilla notes become mustier, the floral notes increase significantly, and it become distinctly purple rather than grape-y.

Taste: sweet opening - malt, vanilla, and very mild sherry, moderate pepper and ginger mid-palate, light oak tannins at the back. After dilution, it becomes even sweeter with more malt and vanilla, there's a pleasant sour apple and wine tinge throughout with a hint of cacao and something grassy, the pepper is reduced, but the tannins become sharper and more pronounced.

Finish: oak, pepper, sweet malt and vanilla, a tiny bit of sherry

As Serge noted, this is a great malt for bringing people over from the blended whisky side. It's not very aggressive - I don't think gentle is the adjective I would use, but pleasant seems right. There isn't a lot of complexity, but everything present is solid and tasty. I also think it accomplishes a lot of what Diageo is lacking in the Lowlander department - a lighter, grassier spirit that still has enough heft and flavor to be enjoyable. It also improved over time, which is always nice. While I'm not sure it's one that I'm going to buy a whole bottle of at this point in my whisky journey, I would still be quite happy to drink it if someone gave me a bottle as a present.

Best of all, it's very reasonably priced, clocking in around $55 most of the time. Given that a lot of 12 year old single malts are now starting at that point, it's quite a bargain for a 15 year old. There are many things to dislike about Diageo, but they have been keeping the prices of a lot of their entry-level malts under control, which is appreciated.

Whisky Review: Dalwhinnie 15 vs. Distiller's Edition

Another set of provisional reviews, this time of two offerings from the Dalwhinnie distillery.

Dalwhinnie 15 Year


Nose: raspberries, sherry, raisins and creamy peat, with the peat moving forward and gaining a bit of vanilla after dilution

Taste: lightly sweet with a bit of sherry, which becomes drier and gains a bit of mocha near the end after adding a couple of drops of water

Finish: light vegetal peat, slightly flat, which gets a bit more pep with peaty, sherried chocolate and malt after adding water

I found this to be a decent, but somewhat uninspiring whisky. The nose is rather fruity and the vegetal peaty that pokes through in all stages of the drinking experience is nice, but it wasn't enough to make me want to go out and buy a bottle. With that said, it is rather reasonably priced for a 15 year old, coming in around $50-55. If I didn't already have a decent number of whiskies in the "light, vegetal peat over sherry" vein, I probably would go out and buy it.

Dalwhinnie Distiller's Edition


Nose: light sherry influence, malt, a bit of both vegetal and smokey peat, which becomes sweeter with maple syrup, malt, peat, sherry and a bit of pine sap after dilution

Taste: light, creamy malt up front, fades into sherry further back, which gains a burst of gin botanicals right before the finish after adding a few drops of water

Finish: malty vegetal peat, which becomes bittersweet malt after adding water

Much like the time I tried Oban 14, I drank this whisky at the wrong time. In this case it was after a dram of Aberlour A'Bunadh, which is obviously a rather hefty whisky. So again, there are probably subtleties that I missed due to my taste buds and nose having been retuned to cask strength. This is a fairly nice whisky, though other than the interesting gin note in the palate, I didn't feel like it brought much to the table that you can't find in the regular 15 year old Dalwhinnie, especially considering the extra $20-25 you'd have to shell out for a bottle.