Dumbarton Rock is a rich and versatile spirit, created with a perfectly balanced flavour profile which brings elegant scotch whisky flavours to cocktails or is perfect on its own. Named for the storied and iconic Dumbarton Rock, upon which Dumbarton Castle stands guard over the town of Dumbarton and the meeting place of the Rivers Clyde and Leven this is an everyday dram. Dràm Mòr bottlers Kenny and Vick Macdonald hail from the once influential town of Dumbarton and give a nod to their hometown with this beautiful bottle.

Bottle Size: 700 ml

NOSE: Fresh baked cookies, honey softening after a few moments into pear drops, vanilla and chocolate. Fudge wrapped in mellow oak and sweet spices.

PALATE: Subtle vanilla, a wonderful cereal note with delicate spice of gentle white pepper, cinnamon and ginger tickling the palette in the perfect ending to a delicious dram.

FINISH: Subtle vanilla, a wonderful cereal note with delicate spice of gentle white pepper, cinnamon and ginger tickling the palette in the perfect ending to a delicious dram.

Reviews from Real Scotch Drinkers

From Serge at Whiskyfun.com

“Another very lovely bottle, gone are the days of thistles, bagpipes and deer. And this is not, mind you, some grain whisky from Dumbarton Distillery, as the name would rather refer to the city where those lovely folks at Dràm Mor are located.

Colour: light gold.

Nose: oatcakes, shortbread and wild herbs, plus some leaven bread, fresh croissants (being French, I can't live without croissants), and baguettes to boost (same comment). A pretty subtle fresh oakiness in the background, with some sourdough bread too. Which I love.

Mouth: simple and exactly right. High-precision malty and bready composition, with some battelman/bettelmann, tart apples and greengages, plus a little grapefruit marmalade and some quince jelly. A drop of rooibos tea too.

Finish: medium, on similar notes, plus slightly undercooked breads and cakes (my favourites), and just a big smile because of the extremely fair price (£29.99, is that even possible?)

Comments: careful, this babe is rather arousing. Thumbs up.”

https://www.whiskyfun.com/2023/A-tiny-bag-of-blends.html

From Neill Murphy at Whisky Reviews

“I’ve been shouting about the bang-for-buck to be found in blended malts for years now but it still feels like some people aren’t listening. In case the “B” word still frightens you, this is a malt whisky and whether or not it comes from a single distillery really shouldn’t matter. It’s been put together by independent bottler, Dràm Mòr and this is something we’re seeing a bit more of – Indie Bottlers, so used to dealing with blink-and-you’ll-miss-them single casks, are launching products with more longevity. A blended malt won’t disappear in a month. It can be a permanent expression for the bottler and serve as an affordable and accessible entry point for the consumer. Dumbarton Rock is bottled at 46% abv and has notes of toffee, apples, orange zest and soft, wintery spices. Cost: £30.

Smell: The first impression is of toffee with soft wintery spices. Spice racks. Cinnamon. Ginger. Cayenne. Paprika. Apples and oranges. Peach and apricot jam. Malt and breakfast cereals. Fruit crumble. Touch of oak. 

Taste: Apples and pears. Orange zest. Toffee and fudge. Runny honey on digestive biscuits. Gingerbread Men. Runny honey. Fruit (particularly grape) flavoured vapes. Pepper. Oak char in the background.

Thoughts: An aromatic and interesting nose that leads to a balanced all-rounder of a malt. For such an affordable bottling it carries some personality – it’s not light and safe like Monkey Shoulder, for example. Instead, it carries some warming spice and showcases some fruity spirit that seems to have had some decent cask interaction. 

Price: £30. As the price of buying and selling casks gets more and more prohibitive, it’s lovely to see independent bottlers put out affordable blended malts of real quality. Dumbarton Rock is a good session dram that comes at an excellent price.”

https://whiskyreviews.net/2023/02/21/dumbarton-rock-blended-malt/

 

From Lamberto Lamarina at whiskyart.blog

”Dràm Mòr has been a bottler on the scene for some years now, and over time has diversified its bottlings, adding rum, cognac and armagnac to single cask whisky.

It was a few months ago that this blended whisky was released, dedicated to cocktails but also as a light and economical dram but choosing the route of only single malts in its recipe, which is not exactly common in this price range.

The name pays homage to the volcanic relief of the same name near the town of Dumbarton (home of the bottler), on which stands the oldest fortress in Great Britain, a town that also hosted a distillery, Inverleven, in operation between 1938 and 1991 and now demolished.

Nothing is known about composition and ageing, only that the blended was made by Ian Macleod Distillers on their behalf, so some idea of the distilleries used can be had.
Many thanks to the very kind Viktorija and Kenny Macdonald for the bottle.

Tasting notes

In the game of intuitions on the types of ageing, the ex-sherry casks certainly come first on the nose, with a waft of red fruits (currants, cranberries) giving an acidic boost that soon fades in favour of softer notes, bringing out malt, caramel, baked apple and a hint of Jaffa cakes. Rising spices (cinnamon, paprika) and a touch of wood complete the picture. Fragrant.

On the palate, the spices become more lively, introducing pepper and ginger, and the thread of sherried impressions is picked up with a hint of tannins to dry the mouth. Red fruits as on the nose but more pronounced, generally more fruity with grapes, pears, apples and more orange marmalade, with intrusions of chocolate, cereals, roasted coffee and toasted wood. A vegetal vein makes its way along the length.
Medium length finish, somewhat spicy and lively for its fruitiness, fruity, dry and slightly roasted.

The casks are probably a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry, with predominance of the latter especially on the palate, resulting in a blended with some personality maybe more interesting on the nose, but still offering a non-dull dram especially when compared to others in the same price range.”

https://whiskyart.blog/en/2023/07/05/dumbarton-rock-2/

From Fi Shoop @FiShoop   Quaffed.Wordpress.com

“Sitting in the Brighton whisky bar, Cut Your Wolf Loose, I noticed an eye-catching label. It’s artistic and appealing with a hand-drawn style picture of the volcanic Dumbarton Rock in my favourite colour, shades of purple. I wanted it but, with that quality label, it looked expensive. Here’s the thing, though, it’s affordable which is usually a really good thing when you want to buy a bottle of whisky but, when you can only drink so many drams in a whisky bar, do you go for slightly more expensive and harder to find single cask releases from Dràm Mòr which you can’t guarantee being there next time you visit, or their great value core release single malts blend, Dumbarton Rock? The answer is both, order drams of their sold-out core releases and buy a bottle of Dumbarton Rock to take home and enjoy at your leisure.

What’s notable about Dumbarton Rock is that all of the whiskies included in the blend are single malts, no cheaper grains at all, the exact contents being a closely guarded secret. It’s an easy quaffer, one for enjoying after a long day or over a lazy weekend, sharing neat with friends or in cocktails, including Old-fashioneds and Manhattans. I recommend using orange and vanilla bitters if mixing in cocktails, complementing the impressive tasting notes. A few drops of Larkfire water open up the dram beautifully.

This is Dràm Mòr’s first blended whisky and I’m really interested to see how the range develops. A fantastic start which works particularly well in a flight with their single cask releases. Or just when curled up on the sofa at home.

Did You Know?
Dumbarton Rock’s namesake is a volcanic plug whose famous visitors are said to have included Merlin (admittedly, he’s not real), Sir William Wallace and Mary, Queen of Scots. For a stunning view, climb 500 stairs to Tower Crag. Or do what I do and pour a dram, then admire the stylised image of the basalt crag on the label, no matter what the weather.

Colour: Apple juice

Nose: So honeyed, orange blossom honey, candied orange, watermelon, sweetcorn, tahini, cashew nuts, brine and hairspray

Palate: Honey, sugared almonds, gingernut biscuits, aniseed balls, clove balls, liquorice pipes, spearmint chews, orange possets

Finish: Chai tea and pink wafer biscuits

Nose with water: Turkish coffee, chicory coffee, peanut brittle, biltong, Weetabix with Lyle’s Golden Syrup, flapjacks, crème caramel, vanilla cheesecake, strawberries and blueberries

Palate with water: Milk chocolate buttons, copper coins, duck pancakes with hoisin sauce, prawn cocktail with brandy, diced cherry tomatoes & paprika, plus oak, flapjacks, apple turnover and brioche slathered with honey

Finish with water: Honey on oatcakes, and ginger tea

Conclusion: A quality easy quaffer, surprisingly spicy for 46% with great honey notes and a long and lingering finish“