This past couple of years have seen lots of new independent bottlers hitting the scene. With industry veterans from Italy and groups of mates from St Albans all joining in the race to find and bottle great whiskies, the new independents are a varied crowd. Surprisingly, one of the places without as many newbies is Scotland, so it\u2019s nice to see Dr\u00e0m M\u00f2r<\/strong> stretching out from its Dumbarton home to expand into the world of bottling its own whiskies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr\u00e0m M\u00f2r has been around for a while in one guise or another, and if you\u2019ve been to a whisky show somewhere in mainland Europe recently, then you\u2019ve almost certainly met one half of the husband and wife team behind the company \u2013 Kenny Macdonald\u2019s quite noticeable, even at a distance: he\u2019s a big chap who\u2019s invariably wearing a kilt. He\u2019s a mainstay of European whisky festivals, pouring drams for a variety of distilleries from around Scotland and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n The other half is Viktorija Macdonald, who has been working in the whisky world for ages, both front of house and behind the scenes. Between them, they\u2019ve been doing export, distribution and brokering, but have now taken the plunge into the world of independent bottling, and are working with their own whisky.<\/p>\n The first set of bottlings has recently launched and Kenny and Viktorija even managed to get in a whisky festival before lockdown came in. I didn\u2019t get a chance to try the whiskies then \u2013 the show was in Ghent on the weekend of my birthday and I was in the pub in London \u2013 but Viktorija sent me down some samples to keep me going.<\/p>\n Bottled from a single bourbon hogshead at 58.4%<\/em>. 240 bottles. ~\u00a350.<\/em><\/p>\n Nose<\/strong>: Stewed orchard fruit, buttery pastry and a handful of marshmallows \u2013\u00a0Fluff-topped apple tarts? Sharper apple skin and crunchy barley sugar notes develop, along with butter lemon pith and peel.<\/p>\n Palate<\/strong>: A burst of Dolly-Mixture sweetness is balanced by sharp apple and rich butter toffee. Bitter apple pip and barrel char notes sits at the back. Travel sweets and apple Jolly ranchers build, along with grassy notes.<\/p>\n Finish<\/strong>: Peel and char notes face to leave of alcohol heat.<\/p>\n A punchy dram with a lot of youthful character \u2013 it\u2019s got heat, but it\u2019s got fruity spirit untempered by the cask. Its a solid young Glen Garioch.<\/p>\n Not much info on the wood, but it looks and tastes like ex-bourbon-matured whisky finished in a sherry cask. 348 bottles. ~\u00a360.<\/em><\/p>\n Nose<\/strong>: Fruity caramel, rhubarb and custard sweets, Fox\u2019s Glacier fruits and malted milk biscuits. Butterscotch and sherbert lemons follow, with a touch of buttermint and spiced shortbread.<\/p>\n Palate<\/strong>: Spiced sponge cake and raisin jam lead \u2013 hello sherry cask. The mint is now choc chips and the butterscotch is Daim bars. Dark leathery notes emerge from the depth, with juicy raisins, mixed spice and a cinnamon tingle.<\/p>\nBig Dram<\/h2>\n
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Dr\u00e0m M\u00f2r Glen Garioch 2011 8 Years Old Cask #2698<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\nDr\u00e0m M\u00f2r Glenrothes 2009 10 Year Old Cask #5280<\/h2>\n
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