Port Dundas 31 Years Old 1990 Cask #HL 18165 (Hunter Laing)

Single grain Port Dundas, picked by Hunter Laing, 31 year old in the wood, from 1990, drawn from cask HL 18165 and bottled at 48.2%. The outturn was 239 bottles. A landmark Glasgow grain works, Port Dundas was founded in 1811 in the north of Glasgow and closed and cleared after 2010. Diageo moved grain production to the expanded Cameronbridge in Fife, and Glasgow lost its giant.

Port Dundas made its whisky using wheat, malted barley and soft Loch Katrine water, distilled continuously in tall Coffey column stills to give a light grain spirit that takes oak quickly. Refill American oak held the spirit, soft wood that lets the grain lead. At this great age grain turns intense and polished, the oak deep and the strength easing. The light make leaves room for the oak sugars and vanillin to come forward.

At its natural 48.2% it is powerful. Butterscotch and toffee from the toasted oak, lifted by a sweet vanilla from the wood and the lactones bring coconut and cream, with the soft grain spirit carrying it. A light citrus and soft tropical fruit run beneath the sweetness. The finish is gentle, sweet and clean. This is a stock that can only shrink from here.