Cambus 28 Years Old 1988 The Speakeasy (Douglas Laing)

From Douglas Laing comes this Cambus matured to 28 year old distilled in 1988 and bottled at 47%. Cambus, a silent grain distillery on the River Devon, made whisky from about 1806 to 1993. With the distillery long closed, every bottle is drawn from a finite, dwindling stock.

Distilled continuously in two Coffey stills from a grain mash, giving a clean, mellow grain whisky. Ex-Bourbon casks held the grain, soft oak that drives the sweetness. Long ageing brings a deep coconut, toffee and a mellow, polished oak. Three decades and more turn a light spirit into something rich and tropical. Single grain Cambus is rare, mostly from independent bottlers and the odd Diageo Special Release. Alfred Barnard visited in 1885, noting six huge warehouses holding seventeen thousand casks. A fire destroyed the distillery in 1914; it was rebuilt and resumed in the late 1930s. Cambus was once one of the largest grain distilleries in Scotland.

At a hearty 47% it carries real weight. The ex-Bourbon gives coconut, toffee and crème brûlée. It is soft and deep, the grain and oak well matched. Toffee and vanilla see out a long finish. This is the dessert sweet grain of silent Cambus.