St. Magdalene 32 Years Old 1982 Closed Distilleries (Cadenhead’s)

Cadenhead's bottled this St. Magdalene single malt, a 32 year old release from 1982 and bottled at 58.1%. The outturn was 282 bottles. The lost Lowland distillery St. Magdalene, first founded as the Linlithgow distillery in 1753 in West Lothian, west of Edinburgh, was mothballed for good in 1983. It was one of the five founding distilleries of Scottish Malt Distillers in 1914.

It was worked through an unusual set of five stills, floor malted on site, for the oily, grassy style that set it apart from other Lowlanders. A refill American oak cask held it, keeping the distillery character to the fore. At this age it is deep and elegant, tropical fruit and mineral wax folded into the spirit. Decades in oak round the spirit while keeping its sharp white fruit. Closed era stock like this is finite, every bottle one fewer left. Linlithgow lies west of Edinburgh, in the old whisky country of West Lothian.

At its natural 58.1% it is concentrated. A waxy, herbal depth with orchard fruit meet a quiet vanilla from the refill oak. Soft citrus and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. The close is slow, grass over soft oak. This is a collectable relic of a cult lost distillery.