1/You've got the Dalmore 12 open at $149 and you're wondering what another rung buys. The range climbs from there to the Dalmore 18 at $536, then the Dalmore 21 Malt at $990. Three steps up the one house. The 12 pours tangerine and soft toffee over spicy dark chocolate, with prunes on the finish. Here's what each step up gives, and what the younger bottle still gives the older one's drinker.
2/First rung up: the Dalmore 18, six more years for $387 more. American oak and oloroso behind honey, orange marmalade and a wisp of smoke, closing on liquorice and citrus. Going up, the 18 gives a Dalmore 12 drinker about 90% of what the 12 does, and what's different is mostly six years of age. Coming back down, the 12 gives a Dalmore 18 drinker about 86% of what the 18 does, for 28% of its price.
3/Next rung: the Dalmore 21 Malt, three more years for $454 more. Twenty-one years showing as dark fruit, chocolate and warming spice, with an extraordinarily long sherry finish. Going up, the 21 gives a Dalmore 18 drinker about 97% of what the 18 does, and what's different is mostly three years of age. Coming back down, the 18 gives a 21 Malt drinker about 96% of what the 21 does, for 54% of its price.
4/So a yes for each drinker. The Dalmore 12 if it's already your bottle and that fruit-and-chocolate run suits you. The Dalmore 18 when the six years themselves are the point. The Dalmore 21 Malt when you want that maturity carried out to its longest finish. More is not always better; each rung simply answers a different drinker.
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