Dalmore

Dalmore was founded in 1839 at Alness, on the Cromarty Firth, by Alexander Matheson — a man who had made his money in the China trade with Jardine Matheson. From 1867 the Mackenzies ran it, and they brought their clan's emblem with them: a royal stag with twelve points to its antlers, heraldry the clan traces to Alexander III in the thirteenth century. It sat quietly on the label for decades before becoming the thing the brand is recognised by.

The stills are unusual. The wash stills are flat-topped rather than swan-necked, and the spirit stills carry water jackets around their necks — both send more of the vapour back to be redistilled. The house style is dense and fruity, and the wood is a large part of why.

Dalmore does not simply use sherry casks; it favours ex-solera casks that have held oloroso and Pedro Ximénez for decades before any whisky goes near them. That is an expensive way to buy wood, and it is the house style — the deep, sweet, sherried character that its oldest bottlings are collected for.