Why would you tell me you came here to taste a whisky? Simply because the city is home to one of the establishments of the Symington family (one of the largest port producers): W & J Graham. This company, among other things, specialises in the production of Tawny port (very British port with a dark red colour and aged for 10 to 40 years in oak barrels).

That's the set! But why? In fact, Graham's house is to Porto what The Dalmore is to whiskies. Quality, Class and Elegance. It is not for nothing that this house, created in 1820, was chosen by The Nose (Richard Paterson) to broaden The Dalmore's olfactory and gustatory palette (the dalmore's whiskies generally kept in bourbon casks before finishing their ageing in sherry casks, so Spanish -NDLR-).

So the step was taken with The Dalmore Port Wood Reserve.

First effect the color: this whisky is darker than usual with a magnificent golden amber color (color related to the double aging bourbon-tawny). One could imagine an even darker colour if more than half of the liquid had been stored in Port barrels.

A second effect of this transition from Spain to Portugal stands out. Indeed, when the nose dives into the glass, it doesn't directly recognize a Dalmore. These are baskets of red fruits that first pour into the nasal cavity and give this expression a rather unique character (for a Dalmore). Once the nose has regained some air, it acclimatizes and when it returns to the glass it finds a little more what it is used to having with a whisky from The Dalmore with beautiful notes of citrus fruits and candied fruits. At the third pass we finally discover sweet notes of caramel and vanilla which soften the smell made a little more lively than usual by the port barrel.

In the mouth the aromas of this whisky are not as dry and marked as the nose had made us think. They are certainly full-bodied but they are mostly creamy. The blend of caramel, red fruits, citrus fruits and very light roasted notes go well together. A pleasant taste of chocolate dried fruit comes next and gives a little more character at the end of the tasting.

Once swallowed, it is the sweetness and the feeling of dried fruits and chocolate that remains in the mouth for a long time. For

having tested it one evening this feeling even stayed with me until the morning! 

The same effect happens in the empty glass: sweet vanilla notes.

In the end, we can say that although our habit of a Dalmore whisky brings us more towards sherry, this incartade on the west coast has been handled very well.