Glendullan 19 Years Old 1996

Chosen by Cadenhead, Scotland's oldest independent bottler, Aberdeen born in 1842 and now in Campbeltown, this a 19 year old Glendullan, distilled in 1996, at 53.4%, one of 480 bottles. Glendullan is a Speyside single malt, founded in 1897 in Dufftown, the last of the town's seven distilleries. Its founder also struck an exclusive supply deal with neighbouring Glenfiddich.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, building a clean malt of orchard fruit and a grassy edge. A bourbon barrel held it, the wood adding a soft honey over the orchard fruit. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard fruit turning to mango, pineapple and a waxy honey. A light, clean texture from the spirit carries through the maturation. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Years in oak deepen the spirit to gold, the body growing rounder with time.

At its natural 53.4% it is full and fruity. A clean, grassy sweetness with a floral lift, lifted by a soft oak. Beneath it run green apple, pear and a soft grass. The finish runs fresh, grassy and clean. This is a Speyside single malt of easy charm.