the name refers to wide grassland is not at the foot of the distillery, but across Cromarty Bay, Black Isle. It's like giving a name to the scenery you see while standing.
The Gaelic elements dail and mòr combine to mean a great field or broad meadow.
The stag with twelve forked horns on the bottle is the Mackenzie family emblem. According to the family legend, an ancestor received the emblem after saving a king from a charging stag. In Scotland, only the king could hunt the twelve-pronged deer.
Fermented wash is heated in stills whose broad proportions help establish Dalmore’s substantial base spirit.
As vapour climbs, some of it cools and returns. This repeated condensation and boiling is reflux; it is not a simple sorting by molecular weight.
The wash stills end in flat heads rather than rounded domes. Vapour meeting that surface can condense and fall back, changing the balance of the distillate.
Water jackets around the necks of the spirit stills cool rising vapour and send more liquid back for another boil.
Vapour that continues beyond the cooling zone travels through a downward lyne arm to the condenser. The final character reflects the whole still system, not one “light-only” gate.
Dalmore’s spirit stills are not identical in size. Their outputs bring different weights and aromas, which are combined before maturation.
Based on Dalmore 12.
It is a shape that bulges upward. The sherry and citrus axes grow together, while the floral/vanilla axes are suppressed.
Since non-peated malt is not used as the main style, the peat axis is very low. The sherry and citrus at the top are the result of distillation and cask maturation.
The flat head and neck cooling device increases reflux and increases the proportion of lighter, cleaner ingredients. Here, maturation in bourbon casks and Oloroso sherry casks adds the flavors of orange, dried fruit, and spices.
The Dalmore stands in Alness in northern Scotland, facing the Cromarty Firth. The wide grassland the name refers to is not where the distillery stands, but the Black Isle spread across the bay. In fact, it is a landscape that is far from the rugged mountains that often come to mind when talking about Highland whisky.
Dalmore 12 begins maturing in bourbon casks and finishes in Oloroso sherry butts. Cooling devices on the still's flat head and neck increase reflux, and cask maturation layers the flavors of orange, dried fruit, and spices. These two steps create Dalmore's unique balance.
In Gaelic, dail means a field or riverside meadow, while mòr means great or broad.