Dumbarton 32 Years Old 1989 Cask #CG007 (The House of MacDuff)

A 32 year old Dumbarton from the bottler The House of MacDuff, distilled in 1989, from cask CG007, bottled at 47.1%, one of 127 bottles. Dumbarton, the largest continuous grain distillery in Scotland when it opened, closed in 2002. A flock of around a hundred Chinese geese, the Scotch Watch, guarded its warehouses from 1959.

It was run off the distillery's continuous column stills, for the light, sweet grain spirit Dumbarton was known for. A bourbon hogshead held it, the long maturation drawing out a buttery coconut. At this great, fragile age the grain is rich and waxy, sotolon lending a maple depth over deep coconut and old oak. The high strength spirit mellows slowly into a soft, sweet old grain. Its iconic red brick tower, built to echo Hiram Walker's Canadian distillery, housed the continuous stills. Its grain was the backbone of the Ballantine's blend for decades. No more will ever be made, the distillery silent since 2002.

Bottled at a cask strength 47.1%, it is rich. Coconut from the oak lactones and vanilla from vanillin run deep, over butterscotch and a soft oil. Soft toffee and vanilla sit behind the sweetness. The close is long, dessert sweet over oak. This is a vanishing relic of Scotland's largest grain distillery.