Port Dundas 27 Years Old 1988 (Cadenhead’s)

A Port Dundas single grain, selected and bottled by Cadenhead's, 27 year old in the wood, from 1988 and bottled at 50.9%. Some 414 bottles were drawn. An enormous grain distillery, Port Dundas was raised in 1811 at the highest point in Glasgow and silenced in 2010 as grain moved to Cameronbridge. Grain whisky on this scale was the quiet engine of the Scotch blending trade.

The spirit was distilled continuously in tall Coffey column stills using wheat, malted barley and soft Loch Katrine water, a soft, sweet make ideal for blending. Matured in a first fill ex-Bourbon cask, the refill wood letting the spirit's sweetness show. At this age grain grows rich and oily, the long oak contact building real depth. The wood does most of the talking in grain whisky, which is why cask choice matters here.

At its natural 50.9% it is powerful. The toasted oak gives vanilla, with the wood lactones lend coconut and a creme brulee note from the caramelised sugars, atop the creamy grain make. The mouthfeel is thick and oily, classic old grain. It closes long, sweet and gently woody. This is ever scarcer now the distillery is gone.