If your travels happen to take you to Dubai in the coming months, and you have $5,500 to drop on a rare whisky, a new offering from Dalmore as part of its prestigious Constellation Collection might be something that finds its way home with you. It is a 1983 expression created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Dubai Duty Free (DDF).
This unique limited edition release will consist of only thirty individually numbered bottles produced, one for each year of the anniversary. What’s interesting to note is that the “thirty year milestone is also celebrated on both the bottle and packaging, which capture the spirit of DDF and the city of Dubai, by incorporating an outline of the city’s unmistakable skyline.”
Notes from Dalmore indicate this 49% ABV Scotch “was stored in a Matusalem sherry cask, sourced from the Sherry House of Gonzalez Byass, until 2009 when it was transferred into a freshly emptied ‘distillery run’ American white oak bourbon barrel. This unique maturation process provides a mahogany and amber gold finish to the spirit. On the nose the whisky has scents of allspice, honeyed chocolate and is complimented by tastes of pecan cake, sweet damsons, mulled wine and maraschino cherries.”
Relatively speaking, the price for one of these bottles is inexpensive compared to some of the other vintages in the Constellation offering. The 1964 expression, for example, costs nearly $38,000 a bottle, while if you want the entire collection you can expect to pay over $260,000.