Dalmore - A Colorful Tasting Led by Richard Paterson

I recently had the pleasure of attending a Dalmore tasting with the United States Bartender's Guild led by the eccentric and hilarious Richard Paterson, author of "Goodness Nose" and third generation master blender, in full Scottish regalia (right).

Oh my, where do I start? You may remember Dalmore from our past articles about the Dalmore 50 and the $58,000 Dalmore 62 -- and no, I didn't get to taste it -- but this tasting was more about history, and less about money. Paterson led us through the story of scotch, which somehow included:

• Beetles
• China
• Catherine of Aragon
• Christian missionaries
• Christopher Columbus
• "oops-a-daisy"
• Scandinavia
• Femininity
• and Mary Queen of Scots

It was a tale peppered with digs at England, facts about marmalade (Mary-maligned?) and a lot of laughter from the USBG crowd. Then, we proceeded to learn an awful lot about Dalmore.

Some things: Dalmore, which means "big field" was founded in 1839 by Sir Alexander Matheson. It is made in copper pot stills (see gallery) which they like to call "the big bastards," just beyond Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. The scotch whisky is aged in American white oak for a minimum of ten years. Dalmore is currently releasing new bottles with metal detailing, and will be 100 percent converted to the new bottles by October.

"Love makes the world go 'round?" posits Paterson, rhetorically. "Total rubbish. Whiskey makes the world go 'round."

Check out the gallery for more about the tasting itself, and see the video below for a little lesson on glassware.