Dalmunach Duncan Taylor 7 Year

Dalmunach was built in 2012 and opened in 2015 by the Chivas Brothers Group, which is under the larger Pernot Ricard corporate umbrella and is currently one of the largest distilleries in Scotland, with a capacity of 10 million liters. Built in the town of Carron on the site of the old Imperial Distillery, the output was designed for use in Chivas Regal blends. It won the Royal Institute of British Architects Award in 2015 because of its modern design, boasting renewable energy sources. Duncan Taylor is an independent whisky bottling company that was founded in 1938 and posseses an extremely large collection of single malt and single grain whiskies. Though founded in Glasgow, the company now sits in Aberdeenshire. The company was owned for a time in the second half of the 20th Century by American Abe Rosenberg but in 2002, ownership returned to Scotland in the hands of Euan Shand and, though now part of an American conglomorate again – Whisky Holdings LP – it remains managed by Scotsman Shawn Smith. The Dalmunach Duncan Taylor 7 Year was matured for nearly eight years in ex-bourbon casks and highlights a Speyside distillery that does not offer its own single malt, a rare glimpse indeed.

This review is of note for being Scotchology’s first review of an independent bottling. While we have reviewed an occasional single cask expression before, we try to steer clear of them normally not because they can’t be delicious – trust us, they can and are – but the variance between individual casks means our review of one will, per force, be different than the one you might be eyeing on the shelf. The addition of an indepenet bottler adds yet one more layer removed from the direct influence of the distillery that we so love to delve into. That being said, indepenent bottlings are a long-standing and legitimate part of the whisky market and it is no use pretending they don’t exist. Sometimes releases such as these are the only way to explore the whiskies of distilleries like this one.

Distillery: Dalmunach
Bottler: Duncan Taylor
Region: Speyside
Age: 7 years
Strength: 54.6%
Price: $49.99
Maturation: ex-bourbon barrels
Barrel: Cask #10858; bottle #82/234; distilled March 2015 and bottled January 2023
Location: Carron, Aberlour
Nose: Butter, peat, hay, apple cider vinegar, brine, anise, fennel
Palate: Vanilla, whipped cream, brine, walnut
Finish: Brine, peppermint 

Comments: The phrase “this pinched me in the ass” may have been uttered at some point in the tasting, along with several minutes exploring exactly what kind of pipe tobacco or cigar this scotch might best pair with. Water is definitely recommended to mellow the palate a little. Play around with the angle of the glass when you’re smelling it too, as even small changes can result in vastly different scents. 

Adam – The vinegar is really strong on the nose, unwatered, ringed with brine and hay and light fruits. It does not seem inviting no matter what angle I tilt the glass. There is a butteriness on the palate but is overlaid with a very strong medicinal sentiment that sterilizes everything else enough that it takes a moment to realize there is no finish to speak of whatsoever. Adding water is a necessity here, I think. A few drops really backs off the nose to something more approachable. Now we’re talking. Some grassy, herbal notes are there along with a little light peat. A dry late summer day not on a farm but maybe near one. The medicinal element of cask strength softens into a nice brine coupled with a tangy creaminess on the palate before actually arriving at a not unpleasant finish of…peppermint? Yes, in fact. Like the aftertaste of a Christmas candy. Very curious.

Kate – I’m getting apple cider vinegar on the nose. I have a recipe I make that’s along the Asian-fusion lines and I take white vinegar with a little bit of sugar and put some chilis in it, and this is what that smells like. I feel like the palate has a lot of flavor but the actual feeling of the liquor in my mouth is very thin. Even with the high alcohol content, it feels very watery to me. With water, it’s a lot sweeter and less astringent. Even a chilled glass and a splash of water. Still not amazing but an improvement. My brain keeps coming back to Chardonnay, like I want to cook with it. If you take a larger sip unwatered, your mid-palate gets hit by almost a nutty flavor, 

Henry – The Duncan Taylor 7 reminds me a little of some Mexican corn whiskies I’ve tried, on the nose. It gives me a slight Abasolo vibe, almost. I am getting a clean and unified nose of fresh peat. To try and reduce it to its components is a little tough because the expression of that peat is crystal clear. My brain is identifying it at that level and not wanting to go deeper for some reason. It drinks very young; a seven year whisky that drinks like a three. 

Ben – Whipped butter on the nose. It’s very pure, very clean. It has a sweetness, like from pozole. This needed to have spent time in a cask that held something else. The heat overpowers the flavor out of the bottle so it feels like it’s a physical experience rather than a flavor experience. Even with water, I don’t think this whisky stands alone. This guy needs a friend. I also think it was poorly cut.

Bill – The nose on this reminds me of a rum or a tequila. There’s almost a touch of a cooking sake in there, on the finish. There is an underlying sweet note there once you get past the nose and take a sip. Like real whipped cream, like the kind you make by hand with an egg beater, almost a Chantilly. It starts out trying to be oily but then it thins out real fast. I think I eventually found the secret to this one: it needs an ice cube. Not a big one but just a little one would suffice, to chill it down a little bit and water it down just a hair. But it does need that. Becomes completely palatable at that point. In fact, this would be a great learning scotch to illustrate what water can do. It feels very subjective and not everyone is going to like this. It’s just…weird. As someone who has enjoyed a cigar with a Guiness before, I wonder if the Duncan Taylor 7 would benefit from some similar assistance. With the right cigar or pipe or something, I wonder if that’s the cure.

Mike – This smells like butter to me. Don’t take this the wrong way but this smells like new make to me. Initially the palate started off exactly as I was expecting, one note and plain. But then I breathed out and something happened. I don’t even know what, exactly. It’s so weird! Reminds me of a champagne vinegar. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy simpler pours but this one doesn’t hit where I want even something like that to. When they cut this, it was like they went way too far into the tails.

Evelyn – Pencil erasers pierce the veil with rubbery chalky classrooms. Smells like school. Astringent cleaner of some kind. Taste like the cleaner used in the classroom with just a touch of Jose Cuervo in there. Nail polish cleaner. 

Sam – Ripe cheese, subtle peat, a wiff of smoke. Add an eye of newt and a squirt of lemon and you might live forever. Smells strongly like Jose Cuervo gold. Taste hot, young, and inexperienced. It’s dirty like your first trip to Cuidad Juarez. You can taste the pollution. It really tastes like tequila. How??