North Port Brechin 28 Years Old 1977

Issued in Diageo's 2005 Special Releases under the distillery's original Brechin name, this 28 year old is among the scarce official records of North Port. The 1977 vintage was laid down in the Angus distillery's final working decade, and with an outturn of 2040 bottles it remains one of the more findable owner's releases of a make that otherwise disappeared into blends rather than a label of its own.

Maturation was in American oak, the refill bourbon style that suited the distillery's light, dry spirit and worked gently and slowly. Across twenty eight years it carried the whisky through oxidative maturity into the first signs of an older, drier profile, the orchard fruit baking down and a waxy texture building beneath while the wood gave up its sweeter compounds.

At 53.3% the strength still carries the dry lift North Port was known for, an almost gin edge to the fruit. As the lignin broke down it gave vanillin and a vanilla sweetness, while the oak lactones lent coconut and cream and slow oxidation added beeswax and a polished old oak note. A fresh, sherried sweetness sits over the dry fruit, the finish clean and long, from a Brechin distillery with a supermarket now on the site.