Dumbarton 22 Years Old 2000 Cask #211891 (Anam na h-Alba)

From the bottler Anam na h-Alba, a 22 year old Dumbarton single grain, distilled in 2000, from cask 211891, bottled at 50.9%, one of 218 bottles. Dumbarton made grain whisky from 1938 until its closure in 2002, mostly for Ballantine's. It was built in 1938 by the Canadian firm Hiram Walker, on the old McMillan shipyard where the Leven meets the Clyde.

The spirit was worked through continuous columns from maize and malted barley, for a delicate spirit that leans on the cask with age. A refill American oak cask held it, the wood lending the deep coconut of old grain. At this evaporative stage ellagitannins lend a polished structure while oxidation builds a waxy, tropical depth. Light grain takes oak readily, the ex-Bourbon lending coconut and vanilla over many years. Decades in cask build a waxy, polished depth over the light Dumbarton spirit. No more will ever be made, the distillery silent since 2002.

At cask strength 50.9% it is full bodied. The ex-Bourbon gives coconut from oak lactones and vanilla from vanillin, over a buttery toffee. Coconut, toffee and a tropical fruit fill the middle. It closes long, sweet and oily. This is an old Lowland single grain of real character.