Dallas Dhu 20 Years Old 1979 The Old Malt Cask (Douglas Laing)

The Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing selected this Dallas Dhu, a 20 year old, distilled in 1979, bottled at 50%, one of 324 bottles. Dallas Dhu, founded in 1898 and named the dark water valley, closed in 1983. The very last cask was filled on the sixteenth of March 1983, when the distillery closed.

The spirit was made in copper pot stills before the distillery closed, to build a fruity, honeyed Speyside character. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, vanilla and honey behind the fruity malt. In the oxidative middle years oxidation draws out a waxy fruit, vanillin and lactones fully expressed. The malty, fruity spirit takes cask flavour well while keeping its oily, honeyed core. Its malty, fruity spirit went almost entirely into blends, never sold as an official single malt in its day. Dallas Dhu is the best preserved of the lost distilleries, kept whole as a museum. No new spirit followed it after 1983, the stills kept as a museum piece.

At 50%, undiluted, it is deep and fruity. Baked apple, honey and a waxy oil, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The texture is oily and round, the fruit lifted by honey. The finish is long, fruity and oily. This is a single malt from a silent Speyside distillery, now a museum.