Port Dundas 15 Years Old 2006 (Signatory Vintage)

Single grain Port Dundas, picked by Signatory Vintage, aged 15 year old, from 2006 and bottled at 43%. Opened in 1811 in the city of Glasgow, Port Dundas grew into a landmark Glasgow grain works before being closed and cleared after 2010. What survives is held by Diageo and a scattering of independent bottlers.

Distilled on a wheat led mash with Loch Katrine water and made in patent column stills rather than pot stills, it began as a clean, sweet grain spirit. Matured in a first fill ex-Bourbon cask, the refill wood letting the spirit's sweetness show. By this age grain takes on real character, the oak rounding it into a creamy whisky. Continuous distillation strips the heavier notes, leaving a clean canvas for the wood.

At 43% it is soft and sweet. A clear vanilla rises from the lignin, coconut follows from the lactones, and caramelised sugars a toffee and creme brulee note, across a soft, fruity grain backbone. Soft orchard fruit sits behind the dessert sweetness. A long, dessert sweet finish lingers. This is proof of how gracefully old grain can age. Glasgow's grain distilling history lives on only in bottles like this.