Another closed distillery: Dallas Dhu, one of many distilleries that didn’t survive the crisis year 1983. Diageo released three Dallas Dhu bottlings in the Rare Malts series: two 24 years old 1970’s and one 21 years old 1975. There were some releases in the ‘Historic Scotland’ series as well, and there are a bunch of independent releases.

Dallas Dhu 24y 1970 (60,6%, Rare Malts, 1995)

Nose: malty and nutty, with prominent oak. Quite waxy. Lots of apple juice, some almonds as well. Hints of vanilla yoghurt with cereals. A little sweeter with water. Mouth: punchy, peppery delivery. Even more wood than on the nose, and clear notes of Turkish delight and some orange blossoms. Malty. Cider apples and a few earthy notes as well. Long, drying finish on oak, black tea and cloves. The pepper comes along again.

Price: € 300–400 (and the rare 60,54% version has been sold for € 600 and even € 900). Not bad, but this Dallas Dhu is still a middle-of-the-road whisky to me, which means I’d recommended to keep it closed if you happen to own a bottle.

Score: 81/100