Port Dundas 16 Years Old 2004 Cask #DL 14676 (Douglas Laing)

A Port Dundas single grain, selected and bottled by Douglas Laing, 16 year old in the wood, from 2004, drawn from cask DL 14676 and bottled at 53.8%. Only 318 bottles were released. An enormous grain distillery, Port Dundas was established in 1811 on the Glasgow canal and silenced in 2010 as grain moved to Cameronbridge. Its grain fed great blends such as Johnnie Walker and Haig for generations.

Grain whisky like this was distilled continuously in tall Coffey column stills using wheat, malted barley and soft Loch Katrine water, giving a soft, clean grain spirit. A Pedro Ximenez cask shaped it, the sweet sherry pressed from sun dried grapes leaving a heavy raisined sugar in the wood. By this age grain takes on real character, the oak rounding it into a creamy whisky. Refill oak, having given its sharpest compounds to an earlier fill, works slowly and lets the spirit lead.

Bottled at a cask strength 53.8%, it is rich. The residual sugars of the Pedro Ximenez bring raisin, date and treacle, while a clear vanilla rises from the lignin, coconut follows from the lactones, and caramelised sugars a toffee and creme brulee note, above the gentle grain sweetness beneath. It is round and creamy on the palate, sweet without cloying. It fades slowly on vanilla and oak. This is a finite pour from a Glasgow distillery long gone.