1979 Dallas Dhu 33 years Gordon & MacPhail is a stunner of a dram that comes from a distillery that opend in 1899 and closed in 1983. During that time it had several owners, survived a fire and became incredibly successful due to its proximity to the railroad. Though its relative success couldn’t save it from being another victim of the massive closures carried out by DCL (Diageo) when they decided to cut costs and close distilleries due to having more whisky than drinkers in early 80s.
Dallas Dhu timeline via Malt Madness
1898 – Built as Dallasmore by Alexander Edward
1899 – Name changed to Dallas Dhu and ownership transferred to Wright & Greig Ltd. (Alexander was partial owner in the company)
1919 – Bought by J. P. O’Brian & Co
1921 – Sold to Benmore Distilleries Ltd.
1929 – DCL (Distillers Company Limited) bought Benmore Distilleries Ltd. and closed Dallas Dhu
1936 – Reopened
1939 – Fire destroyed the still house – rebuilt the same year, but never resumed due to WW2
1947 – Resumed distilling – operations transferred to SMD
1983 – Dallas Dhu closed for the last time
1992 – The license to distill was withdrawn
The Dallas Dhu distillery building stands today and serves as a museum.
1979 Dallas Dhu 33 years Gordon & MacPhail Info
Region: Speyside
Distiller: Dallas Dhu (1899 – 1983)
Mashbill: 100% malted barley
Age: 33 years
ABV: 43%
Price: NA – Auction or private sale
1979 Dallas Dhu 33 years Gordon & MacPhail Review
EYE
Amber
NOSE
Wow. Just… wow. This has one of the most complexly rich fruity noses I’ve encountered. One minutes it’s ripe berries, then some orchard fruit moves in followed by some tropical fruit which gets offset by some fabulous rich woody notes who in turn get supplanted by melon. The cycling of fruit and wood goes on and on with notes of malt, toffee and roasted nuts weaving their way in and out. This is amazing.
PALATE
Take everything I said about the nose, amp up the richness by 1.5, add some sweet syrupy notes and an underlying dark heavy sweetness and you have the idea. Again… wow.
FINISH
A long winding track of complex fruit with bits of wood, nuts, toffee and malt found along the way.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
This thing is so balanced you could have set it on the head of a pin and not spilled a drop. Rich round body and thick oily texture; it certainly has it all.
OVERALL
1979 Dallas Dhu 33 years Gordon & MacPhail is a whisky that unfolds right in front of your face (literally). First sniff it was a little closed off, so I let it sit for a minute and it began to open. Gave it a little swirl and let it sit for another minute or two and it opened further, but then I added just 2 or 3 drops of water to get things moving and BAM! It was exploding throughout my olfactory. Each sip it got richer and tastier. This Dallas Dhu is utterly magnificent. A touch more earthy notes or a wee bit of peat or char to add a bit more dimension and it would have been an A+ whisky. Brilliant.
SCORE: 93-96/100 (Range due to a single glass & not tasting at home)
