30 Whisky Magazine | Issue 167
Brand Focus The Dalmore
own branch of railway line, is situated
in the centre of a ‘good barley-growing
district’, and is close to an abundant
ǮβǯȂ
which he explicitly states are used
in the maltings kiln, which leads us
to assume that Dalmore was at least
somewhat peaty in character at this
point. Barnard records the annual
production capacity as 80,000 imperial
gallons, which is just shy of 364,000
litres. By 1895, the height of the late
Victorian distillery-building boom, this
had increased to an impressive 271,694
gallons, or 1.23 million litres, with 32
employees working at the distillery.
By this time there were very
well-established links between the
sherry and Scotch whisky industries,
with the latter widely using sherry
shipping butts for whisky maturation.
Interestingly, there was a Mackenzie &
Co. sherry business (linked to the port
wine company Mackenzie & Driscoll
of Oporto), though it’s unclear if that
particular Mackenzie was a relation.
Regardless, by the time the Mackenzie
Bros were doing business at Dalmore
there were certainly plenty of fellow
Scots (one thinks of Sandeman & Co.
and Gordon & Co.) running sherry
businesses out of Jerez, Scots from
whom they could source an abundant
supply of excellent casks. “When
Andrew Mackenzie started doing
sherry cask curation, because the
Mackenzie family had been down to
Jerez, he noticed the difference and the
β
ǡdz
Ǥ
“So this sort of cask curation that went
on during the Mackenzie era has been
instilled inside of me and it’s what I’ve
Ǥdz
In the 1880s, the brothers decided
to push the brand further in London
and it seems that they made tweaks
to Dalmore’s spirit style at this time in
order to better appeal to the Southern
palate. It has been speculated that
this could mean they reduced the
β
simply changed the way the stills were
run. Whatever they did, it seemed to
go down well, as a letter from their
Glasgow agent attests: ‘We are very
much impressed with its quality and
think it should hold its own against the
best Highland whiskies, it comes out
ǡǡϔϔǡ
altogether we think a powerful whisky.’
This good reputation is backed up
by price lists of the mid 1880s which
show Dalmore new spirit being sold
to the trade in cask for a respectable
4s 1d (four shillings, one pence) per
gallon. For context, the same list has the
Opening pages and
this page:
The Dalmore 60
Years Old 180th
Anniversary edition.
Facing page,
clockwise from top:
Casks maturing
in Dalmore’s
warehouse; Dalmore
Distillery; Richard
presenting a
masterclass; Richard
checking maturing
whiskies at Dalmore.
highest price for single malt spirit at
4s 10d for Glenlivet, Macallan for two
pence less than Dalmore at 3s 11d, and
Campbeltown’s distillers collectively
bringing up the rear at 2s 9d to 3s 1d
(Ridley & Co.’s Monthly Wine and Spirit
Trade Circular, 12 March, 1885).
Through various ups and downs,
the brothers’ descendants retained
ownership of the business until May
1960, when the company known as
Mackenzie Bros, Dalmore Ltd was
merged with one of its best customers:
the blender Whyte & Mackay. At
this time under the stewardship of
Colonel Hector Andrew Courtney ‘HAC’
Mackenzie, the distillery became part
of a new company called Dalmore,
Whyte & Mackay Ltd. After weathering
various mergers, sales and buy-outs,
the distillery remains under Whyte &
Mackay’s ownership to this day, albeit
as a subsidiary of the Philippine drinks
conglomerate Emperador Distillers Inc.
Although no longer family owned,
‘HAC’ Mackenzie remained with the
company and was still involved when
β
distillery in 1972. To release a whisky at
60 years of age, which is a tangible link
to the family that brought Dalmore to
where it is today, certainly seems a most
appropriate way to mark an impressive
18 decades of the distillery’s operation.
However, keen to emphasise that
this is a year of celebration and not
βǡ
announced their next anniversary-
year release in February at an intimate
event at the illustrious Hotel Café
Royal in London. Housed in a black
sycamore-wood box that is lined with
quilted leather, The Dalmore 51 Years
Old comes bottled in a crystal decanter
with a crystal stopper and the brand’s
iconic 12-point ‘Royal’ stag crafted in
sterling silver. This 51-year-old whisky
β
white oak ex Bourbon barrels, before
β
ͳͻ͵ ͅ
ǡβǦβ
Bourbon barrels; and The Dalmore’s
signature Matusalem sherry casks from
Gonzalez Byass.
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