The Dalmore A History: From Zero To Hero

The emblem that adorns bottles of Dalmore dates back to 1263. In this year the Chief of the Mackenzie clan, Colin of Kintail, saved King Alexander III from being killed by a charging stag. In return, the king granted the Mackenzie’s the rights to use the Royal Stag emblem. It is still used by Dalmore today.

The distillery was founded in 1839 by Alexander Matheson who was very wealthy due to making money as a partner in Jardine Matheson. This firm took over from the East India Trading Company.

The Dalmore distillery lease was taken over by the Mackenzie family in 1878.

In 1891 Sir Kenneth Matheson sold the distillery to the three Mackenzie brothers for £14,500.

In 1917 the Royal Navy used the distillery to make deep-sea mines for use in the First World War.

As a result of a mine detonation incident, a large part of the distillery was damaged in 1920. Production resumed in 1922. However, the resulting legal battle between the Mackenzie’s and the Royal Navy lasted for more than five years.

Mackenzie Brothers Ltd merged with Whyte & Mackay in 1960.

In 1990, Whyte & Mackay was bought by American Brands, a large holding company that was founded in 1969.

Photo: Whisky Auctioneer

In the mid-1990s, The Dalmore released a 30-year-old Single Cask expression from 1966. The packaging while very different to today’s styling was sleek and relatively simple, coloured blue, and with the stag emblem on a label near the neck of the bottle.

In 2002, a bottle of Dalmore 62-year old whisky sold for £25,877.50 at McTear’s Auction in Glasgow. At the time, it was the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold.

Also in 2002, Dalmore began to expand their core single malt range, offering a 21-year-old and their Cigar Malt in addition to the 12-year-old that was already available.

A small visitor’s centre was opened at the distillery in 2004. It included an exhibition, screening room, sample bar and shop.

In 2006, a Dalmore 32-year-old expression featured a small silver stag head on the bottle. This signified Dalmore’s move towards luxury and they began to release more limited edition, high-age statement malts. 

David Robertson, the former Master Distiller at Macallan, joined Whyte & Mackay as Innovation Director in 2006, steering The Dalmore towards its bright future.

In 2007, India’s United Spirits bought Whyte & Mackay.

In 2008 1263 King Alexander III became part of the core range, capitalising on their ‘royal’ history. A limited edition vintage 1974 was released as Dalmore continued to showcase its impressive warehouse reserves.

Continuing to expand the status side of its core offerings and limited edition bottles, in 2009 Dalmore released an 18-year-old, The Dalmore Sirius 58-year-old, and a 1951 vintage.

The limited-edition Dalmore Oculus sold for ~£27,500 in November 2009.

In 2010 Dalmore was down in volume by 36%, but this lack of stock only made the existing stock more valuable.

Also in 2010, Dalmore released The Mackenzie 1992 Vintage and The Candela.

The Dalmore Trinitas 64-year-old was also released, a limited edition of just 3 bottles, each bottle sold for £100,000. This was the first time a single whisky bottle had reached a six-figure sum. 

In 2011 The Dalmore distillery opened their newly renovated visitor centre to the public after an extensive £1million renovation. The centre was designed by Jam Studio to reflect Dalmore’s new position as a status spirit.

The Dalmore Aurora 45-year-old is released, as well as the 58-year-old Dalmore Selene which sold for £12,500.

In Shanghai a 62-year-old bottle of Dalmore was sold for £125,000. The bottle was one of twelve released by the distillery from casks laid down in 1868, 1878, 1926, and 1939.

2012 saw the launch of The Constellation Collection in freshly redesigned packaging. The price for the set of 21 bottles was £158,000.

The large, solid, silver stag that we recognise today was introduced to Dalmore bottles from 2012. The packaging was designed by Mazarine, the clean lines, luxurious materials and distinctive bottle shape all designed to encapsulate the feel of luxury that Dalmore strives for. 

Also in 2012, 1,000 bottles of the 30-year-old Dalmore Ceti were released and The Cigar Malt was added to the core range. 

In 2013, Valour was released as a duty-free exclusive focusing on international business travellers. All of the whiskies in this collection were distilled between 1964 and 1992.

The Patterson Collection, an exclusive collection of 12 bottles, designed by Dalmore’s master blender is released for sale at Harrods. The original asking price was £987,500 despite Patterson’s wish for it to be £1million, as apparently, at the time Harrods thought a million pounds was too vulgar. 

In 2014 Filipino company Emperador purchased Whyte & Mackay for £430million, and therefore took ownership of the distillery.

2014 also saw the release of The Dalmore King Alexander III expression, another single malt that plays homage to the 13th century king who gave the Mackenzie family their Royal Stag symbol.

Dalmore are the third most successful single malt whisky in the investor’s ranking in Rare Whisky 101’s Full Year Report 2015.

Sales are up from just 285,000 bottles in 2008 to more than one million bottles. 

In 2016, three new travel retail bottlings were released, as well as a 3-year-old.

In 2017 a 62-year-old bottle of Dalmore was sold for a UK record price: £114,000. The bottle was one of twelve released by the distillery from casks laid down in 1868, 1878, 1926, and 1939.

Finally, in 2017, four years after it was put on sale in Harrods, the 12 bottle Paterson Collection of Dalmore single malts, created by Master Blender Richard Patterson, was finally sold for £1million to a Chinese buyer. Some of the stock in the collection dates back to 1926.

By 2017 Dalmore have dropped to 12th position in Rare Whisky 101’s Full Year Report 2017 Investor’s Rankings.

In 2018 a Port Wood Reserve was added to the core range.

A bottle of Dalmore Eos sold in Hong Kong for £83,640. It was one of only twenty decanters that were produced in 2011.

By 2018 Dalmore have started to recover their position in the Investors Rankings, rising to tenth position in Rare Whisky 101’s Full Year Report 2018.

A brand new visitor centre was opened at the Dalmore distillery in 2019 after undergoing extensive renovation and expansion.

The reopening was a highly exclusive event which included a tour of the distillery grounds and a meal prepared by Dalmore’s chef.

Photo: Till Britze Photography

2019 also saw the limited edition release of a 60-year-old, with only three bottles being produced to mark the 180th anniversary of The Dalmore and the opening of the new visitor’s centre. A blend of two 60 year old casks laid down in 1951, following the visitor centre launch one of the bottles went on a global journey for exhibition.

Also in 2019, Jordan Design took on the task of rebranding The Dalmore, with the idea of establishing The Dalmore as THE luxury whisky brand.

According to Jordan Design’s website “[t]o deliver on our client’s aspiration to position The Dalmore at the apex of single malt whisky, we developed a retail design language that steered clear of the usual whisky design cues of copper and wood. Instead, we created a materials palette based around black, silver and white leather”. Again, the silver stag takes centre stage, with the royal symbol serving as a reminder of Dalmore’s luxury status.

Dalmore continue their re-ascent into investors rankings, climbing four places to sit sixth in Rare Whisky 101’s Full Year Report 2019.

In 2020 Dalmore released a 28-year-old single malt, only 1,300 bottles were created.

This year also sees Dalmore release a special edition pack for The Dalmore King Alexander III edition. The luxury sleeve will be available exclusively in major airports such as London Heathrow, Taiwan Taipei, Dubai International, and Singapore Changi. Clearly continuing to focus on the lucrative business traveller, however, the current global pandemic may affect the sales of these special packs.