Port Dundas 18 Years Old 1999 Cask #603936 (Meadowside Blending)

Bottled by Meadowside Blending, this Port Dundas single grain at 18 year old from 1999, drawn from cask 603936 and bottled at 50.1%. A small release of 198 bottles. Port Dundas, a giant of Lowland grain whisky established in 1811 on the Glasgow canal, was brought to an end in 2010. Grain whisky on this scale was the quiet engine of the Scotch blending trade.

The spirit was produced by continuous distillation in Coffey stills from a mash of wheat and malted barley, the gentle grain make once destined for blends. Ex-Bourbon oak shaped it, the cask adding sweetness rather than weight. Fifteen years or so gives the oak time to build sweetness over the light spirit. With little of its own weight to fight, grain takes a cask's character readily.

At its natural 50.1% it is powerful. The lactones add coconut, vanillin from the lignin gives vanilla, and a rich toffee and fudge note, with the soft grain spirit carrying it. A light citrus and soft tropical fruit run beneath the sweetness. The finish is long, sweet and softly oaky. This is ever scarcer now the distillery is gone. The closure in 2010 fixed this profile in place for good.