In the fall of 2023, The Dalmore — a distillery situated in the Highlands of Scotland, some 190 miles north of Edinburgh — released the first of its multi-year, four-volume Cask Curation line. The series focuses on what the producer has become best known for: a cask-finishing program that specializes in sherry and port, in addition to more unconventional barrels represented by releases like The Dalmore King Alexander III, which used six finishes, incorporating Marsala, Madeira, and Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. 

Each Cask Curation set consists of three extra-aged whiskies aimed to celebrate the partner winemakers The Dalmore works with. The first installation featured three single-malts finished in sherry casks from González Byass, the largest sherry producer in the world and a long-time collaborator of The Dalmore.

In October, nearly one year after the collection’s inaugural release, the second edition is finally available. The Cask Curation Series II: Port Edition acts as an homage to The Dalmore’s longtime partnership with Graham’s Port, whose port pipes are used exclusively for The Dalmore’s other port-finished expressions.

This year’s spotlight is on three port-finished single-malt whiskies: a 27-year-old, a 30-year-old, and a 43-year-old whisky finished in 1997, 1994, and 1952 single-harvest tawny port casks, respectively. Each expression offers its own distinct character and flavor profile rooted in each brand’s history. 

“They’ve got different dynamics of ‘antique’ flavors,” says Gregg Glass, master whisky maker and blender for The Dalmore. “What do we mean by antique flavors? We talk about umami qualities. We talk about the balance of sweet, dry, and of fruit and floral notes. What we found, particularly with these vintages, was that there was an abundance of these antique flavors that would lend well to that older stock of Dalmore that we had. So often, many of the older Dalmores that we’ve had were put into bold sherry or port styles, and that’s been great. But with these ones, what you’re getting is the nuance, the subtlety, and the delicacy of age and ‘antiqueness.’” 

The youngest of the trio is a 27-year single malt that clocks in at 49.3% ABV and is finished for two years in Graham’s 1997 single-harvest tawny port casks, after spending 25 years in ex-bourbon barrels. The 30-year-old expression, which is a relatively sedate 87.8 proof (43.9% ABV), rested for 28 years in ex-bourbon barrels followed by two years in Graham’s 1994 single-harvest tawny port casks. The 43-year-old expression, at 41.8% ABV, sat in ex-bourbon barrels for 40 years, before a three-year finishing in Graham’s 1952 single-harvest tawny port — produced the same year Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne of England.   

“The thought process for the Cask Curation series has not been purposeful. It’s been natural, is how I put it,” says Glass. “We weren’t saying, ‘We’re going to do this to do a three-bottle set.’ We’re doing this because it’s the right thing for the flavor pairing.” 

The single-harvest ports, referred to in Portugal as colheita, aren’t most consumers’ stereotypical idea of port. Nothing like the thick, grape juice-hued wines many associate with the style, they’re closer to the color of light whisky — somewhat golden amber, with a mildly syrupy viscosity. By law, colheitas are aged for a minimum of seven years, but in practice, winemakers often age them for much longer,  sometimes holding onto casks for decades. 

“Single-harvest tawny ports are limited-release wines that have been selected from outstanding individual years for long-term barrel aging. They differ from aged Tawnies, which are a blend of wines from a few different years,” says Charles Symington, head winemaker and master blender of privately owned Symington Family Estates. His group oversees a trio of esteemed port houses: Graham’s, Dow’s, and Warre’s. “We regularly taste wines and evaluate [port] as they mature,” says Symington. “While most of these wines are blended in our aged tawny ports, there are a few absolutely exceptional tawny ports from individual years with extraordinary character that we feel deserve to be bottled as single-harvest tawny ports.”

For Glass and The Dalmore master distiller Richard Patterson, selecting the port casks — which are around 450–500 liters in capacity — was an exercise in imagination and creativity. 

“If you’re a chef, if you’re a whisky maker, if you’re a perfumer, and you know that there’s something that, on its own, is not quite right or not the ideal, but in the right environment [when] partnering it with the correct flavors and in a blending technique, can produce something beautiful with lots of depth and complexity,” says Glass. “These ones, we felt, embraced the house style and the character beautifully. They reached a pinnacle of where they could be.”

The trio of whiskies, available only as a set and priced at $44,450, come in a cylindrical green leather carrying case that’s been handcrafted in Florence. The Cask Curation series is available through select retailers such as London-based Whisky Exchange and via [email protected].