Suspended Reality: The Dalmore’s New Luminary No. 3 Pushes Boundaries Yet Again
First Kengo Kuma, then Melodie Leung of Zaha Hadid Architects, and now Ben Dobbin of Foster + Partners; this latest instalment of The Dalmore Luminary Series brings the spotlight back to the fascinating creative interplay that exists between architecture and the crafting of rare whiskies. Curated in partnership with V&A Dundee, Scotland’s design museum, The Dalmore Luminary Series No. 3 2025 Edition brings with it two superlative new single malt whiskies, both of which were conceived and refined in collaboration with Ben Dobbin, a key design team leader of the iconic Apple Park, and The Dalmore’s renowned whisky makers, Gregg Glass and Richard Paterson OBE.
This edition of The Dalmore Luminary Series centres around creative flow and precision in both ethos and process — qualities that are equally paramount to the practices of Dobbin, Glass, and Paterson. This is evident in both the whiskies and the accompanying designs created for this very special release. In the case of The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition — The Rare, Dobbin’s design of its accompanying sculpture is a reflection on a landscape’s ability to inspire creativity. The dynamic bronze structure captures the ebb and flow of the topography, bridges, and lochs that surround The Dalmore’s Highland distillery.
For The Rare, a trio of bottles of this exceptional 52-year-aged whisky will be produced, however only one will be auctioned off to the public by Sotheby’s, along with the accompanying sculpture, with proceeds again donated to The Dalmore’s partner V&A Dundee. The two that remain will be displayed at The Dalmore distillery and the V&A Dundee alongside the two prior editions of the series.
In contrast, The Collectible of Luminary Series No. 3 is an expressive and experimental 17-year-aged whisky, finished in an assortment of casks from vintage and aged Calvados, rare Matusalem sherry, rare Apostoles sherry, select red wine casks from Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and fully matured American white oak. This unorthodox combination of cask finishing yields a brilliant flavour profile, with tasting notes of butterscotch, red apples, dark cacao, red licorice, and soft wood spices, elevated by notes of cardamom, Seville oranges, and green tea. Thankfully, unlike The Rare edition, The Collectible has been crafted in a run of 20,000 bottles globally, and a modest portion of that has been carved out for the Canadian market. It’s expected on shelves by mid-May, and is unlikely to stick around for long.
Photos courtesy of The Dalmore.
