The making of The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition - part one

The third chapter of The Dalmore Luminary Series, The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition, continues to explore the synergies between the world of whisky making and architectural design.  

This chapter of The Dalmore Luminary Series comprises two exceptional Single Malt whiskies: Luminary 2025 Edition – The Rare, a 52-year-old masterpiece of unparalleled depth and complexity, and Luminary No.3 2025 Edition – The Collectible, a 17-year-old Single Malt whisky, inspired by The Rare.  

The collaboration began with an immersion in The Dalmore's craft and whisky making artistry, including a bespoke tasting with Gregg and Richard. Ben was offered a rare and exclusive experience at The Dalmore’s Highland home, which is currently closed to visitors during redevelopment.

Here they opened some of the rarest casks for Ben to sample. “The experience was a whole spectrum for the senses,” says Ben. “Gregg and Richard really helped me to find my own personal vocabulary to describe what I could smell, taste and feel.”

“We felt it was important to fully capture Ben’s emotions in the tasting,” adds Richard, “so that they were reflective in the whiskies we were about to create, together. Ben is always thinking about the world around him, and about how that relates to design too; he had so many brilliant ideas and it was our job to match them with the whiskies. To invest time together to build our relationship, our friendship, is so important – as then you can be sure you will benefit from that in the whisky making process. When you look back at the whisky you have created together, you can truly enjoy it as something very special indeed.”  

The first moment at The Dalmore Distillery, Richard recalls fondly, "As Ben was about to step into Warehouse No.2, I cried, “Stop”, this is an important moment. You must not hurry. This is a special place, and you must take your time to drink it in."  

Together the Luminaries explored hand-selected rare and aged casks at The Dalmore as they started the process to develop prototypes for each whisky recipe. “It was really all laid by, by Ben." Gregg explained "In terms of stylistic, characters, flavours, colours and elements that he really enjoyed. And we spent a lot of time in the sample room and looking at different recipes and blending at different proportions to create something, truly unique."

"One unusual element of this release for The Dalmore is that we’ve used Vintage Calvados casks that Richard had the foresight to lay down more than two decades ago, before they were an official sanctioned cask type for finishing whisky."

Gregg went on to describe the approach they took; "For The Dalmore Luminary 2025 Edition, we wanted to convey strength, balance and equilibrium, so we really had to think about waves, strands of flavour and the different combinations of casks to create something truly wonderful."

Learning about The Dalmore Single Malt Whisky from the inside out was fundamental for Ben when it came to informing his creative vision as a designer for the release. “I had to understand the process, get inside it, and find the root of the sensory phenomena... It gave me such strong feedback when it came to creating the sculpture for The Luminary 2025 Edition - The Rare.”

Ben set out to create something that was as innovative as it was beautiful. “It had to represent the rolling topography of the Scottish Highlands, the engineered precision of the nearby bridges, and the flow of the water that leads down to the distillery,” explains Ben. “I wanted the sculpture to have great technicality and integrity as a structure, and for people to look at it from many different angles, to take a closer look at the micro compositions within it and enjoy the details.”