Last week I managed to get time to stop off briefly in Dubai. What an amazing place. Unfortunately I wasn’t buying an Island this time (I wish) I was in fact visiting a number of our key trading partners. Whilst their I was eager to take a quick break to see a dear colleague of mine Felix Hartman who is the manager of the Sky View Bar at the breathtaking Burj Al Arab Hotel. Felix is without doubt an expert on rare whisky, old whisky, luxury whisky in fact everything whisky. I called and demanded that he let me take some pictures of The Dalmore 40 that sits proudly behind his famous bar. ‘Richard’ he said ‘the Burj Al Arab is the world’s only 7-star hotel destination. It’s the icon of Dubai, its somewhere our guests visit to relax and enjoy themselves no you cannot!’ Of course I had to respect his wishes. If you’re in the Sky Bar and Felix is there pouring you one of his luxury whisky expressions, ideally The Dalmore 40, do me a favour and take a photograph and send it to me.

Just about every time I conduct either one of my whisky master classes or a whisky tasting event I am asked, “What is the most expensive whisky ever sold?” In fact I was asked this very question several weeks ago whilst in London.

I’m both delighted and privilege to say that I never tire of this question because the answer is one of my own: the very (very) limited Dalmore 62yo. I’m also pleased to say that the customer in question (no names) brought this fine product to enjoy and not to collect.

Way back on the 15th April 2005 at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, in the small town of Bagshot in Surrey a young gentlemen purchased the hotel’s one and only bottle of the said Dalmore 62yo. The occasion took place over Pennyhill Park’s main bar and I’m told somewhere in the region of £32 - £38,000 changed hands (amount was never confirmed).

Sat with his friends our customer then proceeded to open his purchase and enjoy it. Within 10 minutes 62 years of history were enjoyed in the manner that I would always recommend. A prefect setting with friends requires a perfect serve and that’s exactly what happened.

The element of the story that I also like to highlight is what happened next. Our friend after circulating the bottle amongst his group handed it back with one dram left for the barman to sample. Many professional bar staff would have settled for a small tip so imagine how the barman in question must have felt when presented with the generous gesture of a £1,000 dram to taste. I wish I’d been there.

The Dalmore 62yo is without doubt liquid history. Within the expression the youngest whiskies I used were 62 years old (obviously). The oldest Dalmore liquid was initially distilled on the 10th June 1868, that’s 3 days after the birth of a certain Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Unsurprisingly I am told if you are lucky enough to come across a bottle of Dalmore 62yo on the black market you can now expect to have to swap £60,000 if you want to take it home.

So why do all expressions of The Dalmore carry the stag icon - our emblem of aristocratic pedigree?

The legend dates back to the 13th Century, 1263 to be precise, when a member of the Mackenzie family risked his life to save Scotland’s ruler, King Alexander III, from a charging stag. Intuitively courageous he shot the charging beast with a single arrow. As a token of his appreciation the grateful monarch bequeathed the stag to the Mackenzie family - a symbol of valour and courage.

In 1786 Benjamin West was commissioned to commemorate the act and the resulting painting hangs proudly, to this day, in the National Galleries of Scotland, at the foot of The Mound, Edinburgh.

The Mackenzie family have been using 12-point stag’s head iconic symbol to set the whiskies from their Dalmore distillery apart since the 1800’s.

To celebrate the Dalmore 40 year olds regal pedigree and peerless quality a metal stags head proudly adorns every bottle.

I have spent the majority of my career nurturing and cradling this fine spirit almost as if it was a member of my own family. What truly motivated me to bring this masterpiece to life was the pioneering spirit of one of my heroes; Col. H. A. C. Mackenzie who mashed, fermented and distilled the fledgling spirit, ultimately filling bespoke, redolent oak casks on the 21st March 1966. From that day forth we have known that this was going to lead to something undeniably magnificent - a true expression of our distillers art.