St. Magdalene 33 Years Old 1982 Cask #RO/15/05 (G&M)

From Gordon & MacPhail comes this St. Magdalene matured to 33 year old from 1982, drawn from cask RO/15/05 and bottled at 46%. The outturn was 431 bottles. The lost Lowland distillery St. Magdalene, founded around 1753 by Sebastian Henderson between the canal and the railway, was silenced in 1983. There were no official bottlings in its lifetime; fame came with Diageo's Rare Malts.

The spirit was run through the distillery's five stills, two wash and three spirit, to build an oily, individual make that blurs Lowland and Highland lines. Ex-Bourbon casks held the spirit, soft oak that lets the oily character lead. Very old St Magdalene turns profound, oily and tropical yet still grassy and individual. Long, cool Lowland maturation lets the oily spirit take oak slowly over many years. The Union Canal ran past the distillery, carrying its casks through the whisky boom years. It was one of the five founding distilleries of Scottish Malt Distillers in 1914.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow. Green apple, citrus and an oily wax meet soft vanilla and honey from the cask. Beneath it run lemon, grass and a waxy weight. The close is slow, grass over soft oak. This is a collectable relic of a cult lost distillery.