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Cadenhead's Dallas Dhu 1979 35yo

Dallas Dhu Distillery - Forres, Morayshire
Cadenhead's bottling.
 

For info   Reviews on sshhh! aim to detail the flavours, feelings and quality of each dram, wrapped up in as little nonsense as possible (!). Each whisky is tried on its own and given time to speak out, even if they often talk gibberish.
 
Distillery profile   Silent for: 41 years   |   Existed for: 84 years   |   Type: malt
Functioning mostly to service the Roderick Dhu blend, this distillery isn't a common sight, especially since it was disbanded. Appearing as Dallas Mhor and Benmore, this is not oft-bottled and joins many distilleries closed in 1983. - see Malt Madness - Dallas Dhu for a detailed profile.
 

Tastes & Smells
It's spent 35 years in this cask, but it's strangely new make-y, yet weirdly quite intense. Often new make on the nose is a very bad sign, but this is a quite intriguing... and wow, pop it in your mouth and it's a pine forest, with dried fruits, apricots and old-fashioned sweets. So different! It really disappears on the finish, but in the best way possible - extremely moreish.

Worth shouting about?
I was lucky enough to be in the Cadenhead's Warehouse in Campbeltown tasting direct from the cask, and this was the only silent still we got to taste, but it lived up to that mystique. It was absolutely different, the other malts were all categorisable, yet this defined convention. It didn't smell of a great deal, even a bit raw, but the taste was so different and moreish, I just kept going back to it to discover new things. It got better over time and even delivered a little burn at the finish without putting up (much of) a barrier... "I WANT MORE", was my take-home message.

Summary & Ramblings
Intriguing, differnt and addictive. My first taste of this distillery, and maybe this was just a great cask, but I really want to try a few more from this locale... The value score is based purely on my anticipation of bottle cost, it's not been released so it's hard to call. Here's a photo of the cask, if you want to see.


8.2
5.7

  Drawn straight from the cask, this was a real treat..


tldr;
Rich, intense and different. Very hard to pin down, yet distinctive - it dissapears quickly, but you just want more... keep an eye on this cask.
 
 

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