Dalwhinnie 1989 25 Year Old Special Releases 2015

One of the most complete mainland malts ever. Period.

Dalwhinnie, Scotland has a population of 80 and is home to a small schoolhouse, a pub, an inn, a train station, and the Dalwhinnie Distillery. What else do you need? The distillery, founded in 1897 by John Grant, is famous for being the “highest” distillery in Scotland. In this case, we are talking about altitude, sitting at 1164 feet above sea level. Today, Diageo owns Dalwhinnie. Importantly, only 10% of production ends up in their single malt nameplate, and they are a relatively small distillery with only one wash and one spirit still. The rest goes into the famous blended Scotch “Black & White.” So grab what you can get your hands on.

This is a 25 year old Dalwhinnie from Diageo's 2015 Special Releases. Matured in refill American oak hogsheads, bottled at cask strength, and available only in 5,916 bottles. A surprise from Dalwhinnie that not a lot of people expected to be released. It’s surprisingly fresh, rich, and has that spicy dryness which makes it one of the best Dalwhinnies we’ve ever had. But if you’re not willing to take our word for it, take Jim Murray’s from the Jim Murray's Whisky Bible: “One of the most complete mainland malts of them all.” 

"Best single malt Scotch 22-27 years (Multiple Casks)"
- Whisky Bible 2017

SmartAss Corner: Dalwhinnie distillery claims to be the distillery with the highest elevation. So does the Braeval distillery. We like Scotches from both and frankly do not care about elevation.