Oban 18 Years Old 1994 Lifeboat RNLI (Douglas Laing)

This 18 year old was bottled by the independent firm Douglas Laing as a charity edition supporting the RNLI lifeboat service, a 1994 vintage released in a tiny outturn of 297 bottles. Independent Obans are scarce, since most of the make goes to the distillery's own range, and this comes from the tiny coastal distillery founded in 1794.

Ageing took place in soft ex-Bourbon oak, eighteen years giving the soft wood time to round the spirit fully. Oban's make is built on slow distillation after a long fermentation through the compact pot stills, condensed in the wooden worm tub condensers for heavy copper contact, the light and fruity spirit reaching oxidative maturity in the cask. Independent bottlings of Oban are scarce, since the distillery keeps most of its make for its own range, so a single cask released for charity in under three hundred bottles is a genuine rarity.

Bottled at a natural 49.7%, it is deep and balanced. Lignin breakdown in the cask brings vanilla, the oak lactones lend coconut, and the long ageing draws out dried fruit and a waxy weight over Oban's honey and saline edge. A faint smoke carries a long, malty and faintly briny finish that opens with a little water.