Caledonian 33 Years Old 1987 Closed Distilleries (Cadenhead’s)

Caledonian was an Edinburgh grain distillery, built in 1855 by Graham Menzies near Haymarket station and the Union Canal, and for a time the largest distillery in Scotland. It joined the Distillers Company in 1884 as its seventh member. Closed in 1988, it lives on only in the casks laid down before the doors shut; Cadenhead's gathers such whiskies in its Closed Distilleries series, this one distilled in 1987.

Made in a continuous Coffey still for a light, sweet grain spirit, it spent thirty three years in ex-Bourbon oak. Grain whisky like this gains most of its character from the wood, the long maturation drawing coconut, vanilla and toffee from the American oak. Bottled at 43.9 percent. Caledonian ran a single giant Coffey still, once described as the greatest still in Scotland, drawing its water from the Union Canal.

At this age it is mellow and oily, coconut and vanilla over toffee popcorn and a soft tropical fruit, with a creamy, gently spiced finish. A finite record of a vanished Edinburgh distillery, its profile fixed for good by closure. Coconut and vanilla come from the American oak, the lignin and lactones working slowly on the clean grain.