Port Dundas 35 Years Old 1978 Cask #DL 9729 (Douglas Laing)

From Douglas Laing comes this Port Dundas single grain, a 35 year old grain, from 1978, drawn from cask DL 9729 and bottled at 59.2%. Just 260 bottles were filled. The Glasgow grain distillery Port Dundas, established in 1811 on the Glasgow canal, was one of Scotland's great grain distilleries until closed in 2010 just short of two centuries. For decades its light spirit went into blends like White Horse and Bell's.

The spirit was drawn off tall continuous column stills on wheat and malted barley, a soft, sweet make ideal for blending. Matured in a first fill ex-Bourbon cask, the refill wood letting the spirit's sweetness show. Very old grain like this grows waxy and exotic, the years having slowly concentrated it. The slow loss of the angel's share, one to two percent a year, has concentrated the liquid over time.

Bottled without water at 59.2%, it is robust. The oak lends a soft vanilla, with coconut and cream from the lactones and caramelised wood sugars a toffee sweetness, over light citrus and a soft tropical lift. It is round and creamy on the palate, sweet without cloying. The close is soft, oily and warm. This is one of a dwindling number of bottlings from a closed grain distillery.