Caledonian 35 Years Old 1987 Cask #23484 (Signatory)

Caledonian was an Edinburgh grain distillery known as the Cally, built in 1855 near Haymarket station and the Union Canal. The seventh member of the Distillers Company from 1884, it was for a time the largest distillery in Scotland before closing in 1988. Signatory Vintage holds a parcel of its final 1987 casks, of which this is one, bottling them at natural strength as the stock slowly dwindles.

The light grain spirit was drawn off a continuous Coffey still and filled into a single ex-Bourbon cask. Decades in American oak turned the clean grain deep and oily, coconut and vanilla drawn from the wood. Bottled at its natural 54.9%, without chill filtration or colour. The distillery joined the Distillers Company in 1884 as its seventh member, and was for a time the largest in the land.

At 35 years it is full and sweet, coconut, vanilla and toffee popcorn over a soft, oily body, with a grilled pineapple lift and a long, creamy finish. A characterful single cask from a distillery silent since 1988, its character fixed for good. The closure of 1988 fixed its character for good, so what remains in cask is all there will ever be. Few grain whiskies reach an age like this, the long rest turning a simple spirit into something deep and tropical.