Strathclyde 24 Years Old 1989 (Small Batch)

This Strathclyde was from the independent bottler Cadenhead's, a 24 year old grain whisky from 1989 and bottled at 46%. Strathclyde, first built in 1927 on an old cotton mill site in Glasgow, is a Glasgow grain distillery. The malt distillery Kinclaith lived inside its walls from 1957 until 1975.

The spirit was run through column stills, an analyser and a rectifier, on Loch Katrine water, to build a soft, sweet grain character. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding coconut, vanilla and toffee. By this age the sweet spirit rounds into vanilla, coconut and a soft oil. The slow loss of the angel's share concentrates the sweet, oily core over decades. Aged single grain has become prized for its soft, oily, dessert sweet character. The continuous still gives a clean, high strength spirit that mellows with years. Strathclyde takes its name from the old region around Glasgow. Decades in ex-Bourbon wood turn light grain into a rich, oily whisky.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. The ex-Bourbon gives butterscotch, coconut and cream. A butterscotch and a creamy oak lift it. The close is soft, dessert sweet over oak. This is the light, sweet grain style of Strathclyde.