Dalmore King Alexander III (750ml)

The Dalmore distillery stands on the shores of the Cromarty Firth in Alness, in the Scottish Highlands about 20 miles north of Inverness, drawing its water from the nearby River Averon. Alexander Matheson founded it in 1839. In 1867 it passed to the Mackenzie family, who put their clan's 12-pointed stag on the bottles, and it still appears on every bottle of The Dalmore today. That emblem traces back to 1263, when, according to clan tradition, Colin of Kintail, chief of the Mackenzies, saved King Alexander III of Scotland from a charging stag during a hunt, and the grateful king granted the clan the right to bear the stag's head. This whisky, first released in 2008, is named for that moment. It was created by longtime Master Distiller Richard Paterson as one of the first single malts to bring together spirit matured in six different cask types. The spirit is distilled in The Dalmore's distinctive copper pot stills and begins its life in American white oak ex-bourbon barrels. Portions are then matured in Matusalem oloroso sherry casks, Madeira and Marsala barrels, port pipes, and Cabernet Sauvignon wine barriques before everything is married together. Each cask adds its own layer, and the finished malt is rich, rounded, and fruit-laden, a showpiece of The Dalmore's multi-cask approach.