The Dalmore Luminary Series concludes with 52YO whisky
Scotch brand The Dalmore has unveiled its third and final Luminary edition with a 52-year-old whisky up for auction.
Revealed at an exclusive event in Venice on 7 May, the third chapter of The Dalmore’s Luminary Series includes two whisky releases, one of which has been designed in collaboration with English architect Ben Dobbin of Foster + Partners.
Dobbin has worked on projects such as The Gherkin building in London, the Apple Park in California and the revitalisation of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.
Like the previous editions, the Luminary Series has been created in partnership with Scottish design museum V&A Dundee. The range shines a light on the worlds of whisky making and architectural design.
The third edition includes The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition – The Rare, a 52-year-old whisky, housed in a unique bronze sculpture designed by Dobbin.
The whisky was matured in American white oak ex-Bourbon barrels, then finished in five different casks: vintage 1980 Calvados, 1940 Colheita Port, Tawny Port, 40-year-old Pedro Ximénez Sherry, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape casks. This whisky is non chill filtered and bottled at natural colour with an ABV of 40.3%.
The whisky went through 60 iterations before landing on the final expression.
Only two sets of the whisky and sculpture have been made – one is up for auction by Sotheby’s Hong Kong until 16 May, while the other will be displayed at The Dalmore Distillery.
Sotheby’s estimates the whisky to sell for HK$800,000-HK$1.6 million (US$100,000-US$200,000). There is no reserve set for the whisky.
All proceeds from the Sotheby’s sale will be donated to V&A Dundee, which will also display a mock-up of the sculpture and decanter from 14 May.
The whisky’s aroma has a ‘vibrant orchard character’ with hints of Madagascan vanilla and cinnamon. The palate carries flavours of rich butterscotch, red apples, tarte tatin, dark cacao, red liquorice, and soft wood spices, elevated by notes of cardamom, Seville oranges, and green tea.
In addition, The Dalmore is offering 20,000 bottles globally of The Dalmore Luminary No.3 – 2025 Edition, a 17-year-old whisky (49.2% ABV) presented in a bespoke case.
This whisky was fully matured in American white oak and finished in a combination of seven casks, including both vintage and aged Calvados (1989 and 1999), Matusalem Sherry, Apostoles Sherry, red wine casks from Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
The aroma carries baked red apples, honey, sugared almonds, and soft wood spice, with flavours of rich caramel, apple crumble, dark chocolate, and blood orange on the palate.
The 17-year-old Luminary No.3 will be available from mid-May 2025 at specialist and luxury retailers, as well as in global travel retail and The Dalmore website for £299/US$399.
The global launch of Luminary No.3 coincided with the pre-opening of the 19th Biennale Architettura, an international architecture event held in Venice every other year.
The Dalmore is a supporting partner of the British Council and the British Pavilion at this year’s Biennale.
Behind the project
Dobbin visited The Dalmore distillery several times to work on the project together, where he met with whisky makers Richard Paterson OBE and Gregg Glass.
This edition of the Luminary Series is said to be ‘rooted in creative flow and precision’ – qualities that are shared by Paterson, Glass and Dobbin.
The project took two-and-a-half years to complete with Dobbin drawing on the landscape of the distillery and nature to create the sculpture.
Dobbin was inspired by the ebb and flow of the topography and the bridges and lochs that surround The Dalmore’s Highland distillery.
With the sculpture, the whisky appears almost suspended in time, inspired by tensegrity, a contemporary style of architecture in which objects appear to be built by nature in precisely balanced tension.
The sculpture is made of bronze, features dramatic waves and rods, smooth curves and straight lines.
Before the reveal of the sculpture in Venice, Dobbin explained that the Luminary range was a “combination of two dissimilar industries” and finding a way to bring them together.
During his visit to the distillery, he came across a pair of bridges in Inverness, noting how the columns of the bridges are invisible.
“There’s a refinement of craft, but also a refinement of engineering to remove as much detail or extraneous material as possible to create these transparent columns which actually hold the suspension bridge in place,” he noted.
“And also this bridge, which links two worlds, two sides, is a really strong analogy for what we’re doing, bringing whisky making and architecture together and then elevating that up to the next level of experience. This was a particular defining moment in the design process.”
The Dalmore’s whisky makers took inspiration from Dobbin’s personal tastes and preferences when it came to creating the third Luminary release.
Inspired by conversations with Dobbin, The Dalmore whisky makers revisited a set of Calvados casks, which Paterson had the foresight to lay down before Scotch whisky’s technical file was amended to expand the cask types used in production in 2019.
Glass, master whisky maker of The Dalmore, said: “Meeting Ben was a true meeting of minds. There are actually many similarities between whisky making and architecture, both being a very iterative process but also striving to create something that stands the test of time.”
The Dalmore Luminary Series No. 3 follows the first edition created with Kengo Kuma and Maurizio Mucciola, designers of the landmark V&A Dundee, and the second release last year with Melodie Leung, designer and director at Zaha Hadid Associates.
Since the partnership with V&A Dundee began in 2020, The Dalmore has given more than £200,000 (US$264,000) to the museum to aid in their design and community work both locally and globally.
Sotheby’s sold The Dalmore 48 Year Old Luminary No. 1 Rare for £118,750/US$137,900 in November 2022, and The Dalmore 49 Year Old Luminary No.2 The Rare for £93,750/US$117,400 in May 2024.
‘Piece of history’
Steven Pearson, global chief marketing officer of The Dalmore owner Whyte & Mackay, said the Luminary range has allowed the company to “reinvest in its relationship with the V&A” and support a fellow Scottish company, as well as local artists.
Speaking about its collaboration with architecture, Pearson noted that the role of design can be seen in day-to-day life.
“Working with people who are doing [design] every day is a great place for the brand to be, because the idea of Luminary came from that idea. We want to work with the best, but you can create something that is distinctive, differentiating, desirable and wondrous as well. The sculptures that we created, that lives on – they live on in the V&A Dundee.
“It’s much more than just a brand partnership. It’s an iconic piece of history; of whisky and design history. That’s pretty special and it’s there for everyone to see. So it’s not transient, it’s forever.”
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