Port Dundas 14 Years Old 2004 Cask #DL 13134 (Douglas Laing)

From Douglas Laing comes this Port Dundas single grain, 14 year old in the wood, from 2004, drawn from cask DL 13134 and bottled at 48.4%. Only 393 bottles were released. One of Scotland's great grain distilleries, Port Dundas was dating to 1811 in the heart of Glasgow's blending trade and closed in 2010 just short of two centuries. Single grain in its own right was always a sideline to its work for the blenders.

Distilled using wheat, malted barley and soft Loch Katrine water and distilled continuously in tall Coffey column stills, it began as a clean, sweet grain spirit. Matured in a refill ex-Bourbon cask, letting the clean grain character speak. Fifteen years or so gives the oak time to build sweetness over the light spirit. A clean spirit and a long sleep let the oak express itself fully.

At cask strength 48.4% it is muscular. Lignin breakdown lends vanilla and a coconut note from the lactones, with a toffee, dessert like sweetness, atop the creamy grain make. Soft orchard fruit sits behind the dessert sweetness. The finish is smooth, sweet and lingering. This is a collectable remnant of a closed Glasgow giant.