Black Bull 40 Years Old (Duncan Taylor)

Black Bull 40 Years Old (Duncan Taylor) is a blended Scotch from Duncan Taylor, marrying malt whiskies for character with grain whisky for a smoother, lighter frame. Grain from distilleries such as the closed Port Dundas often forms the backbone of blends like this. Port Dundas, silenced in 2010, is among the grain distilleries behind bottlings of this kind.

A blended Scotch combines malt and grain whiskies of different ages and origins. At 40 year old every component has spent years in oak, the malt lending depth while the grain gives a creamy, rounded base. Ex-Bourbon oak shaped it, the cask adding sweetness rather than weight. The wood does most of the talking in grain whisky, which is why cask choice matters here. The blender's craft is to balance the parts into one whole.

At a full 41.9% it is deep and strong. The malts bring honey, dried fruit and orchard sweetness, the grain a creamy vanilla and coconut, with the oak lends a soft vanilla, with coconut and cream from the lactones and caramelised wood sugars a toffee sweetness adding its own note. A faint waxy note gives it weight on the tongue. The finish is smooth, sweet and lingering. A rounded, approachable blend in the house style.