Port Dundas 40 Years Old 1978 Cask #DL 12470 (Douglas Laing)

Bottled by Douglas Laing, this Port Dundas single grain, a 40 year old from 1978, drawn from cask DL 12470 and bottled at 59.1%. A small release of 168 bottles. Port Dundas was a giant of Lowland grain whisky, first run in 1811 beside the Forth and Clyde Canal in Glasgow and brought to an end in 2010. A founding member of the grain combine DCL in 1877, it supplied blenders across the country.

Distilled from a wheat mash drawn on Loch Katrine water and run through the distillery's continuous Coffey stills, it began as the light, sweet spirit grain whisky is known for. Ex-Bourbon oak shaped it, the cask adding sweetness rather than weight. Three decades and more leave a concentrated, oaky grain of real rarity, mellow and fine. Long, cool warehouse ageing lets cask and spirit knit slowly rather than forcing the flavour.

Bottled at a cask strength 59.1%, it is rich. Broken down lignin lends vanilla and oak lactones a gentle coconut, with a butterscotch and toffee sweetness, over a base of light citrus and tropical fruit. The mouthfeel is thick and oily, classic old grain. The finish is gentle, sweet and clean. This is a rare survivor from a demolished grain works.