Dallas Dhu 23 Years Old 1978 Cask #345 (Signatory)

A Dallas Dhu of a 23 year old chosen by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, distilled in 1978, from cask 345, bottled at 58.1%, one of 548 bottles. Dallas Dhu is a ghost of Speyside, its single malt rare and its stock now finite. It was built in 1898 by the entrepreneur Alexander Edward, who first named it Dallasmore.

Drawn off worm tub cooled stills south of Forres, building the old fashioned Dallas Dhu style. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. In the oxidative, evaporative years concentration brings dried fruit and honey over a deep, waxy malt. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and coconut over the oily malt. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, vanilla and honey over a malty fruit. Maturation in the cool north east kept the spirit fresh across the long years. Rather than demolish it, Historic Scotland preserved it whole, opening it to the public in 1988. No new spirit followed it after 1983, the stills kept as a museum piece.

At cask strength 58.1% it is full bodied. A fruity, malty sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a soft toffee lift it. The finish is long, fruity and oily. This is the fruity ghost of Dallas Dhu.