Caledonian 42 Years Old 1976 Cask #DL 12769 (XOP)

Caledonian, the Cally, was built in 1855 in Edinburgh's Haymarket district and was for decades the largest distillery in Scotland, its grain whisky feeding the great blends. It closed in 1988 and was demolished, leaving only its landmark chimney. Douglas Laing's Xtra Old Particular range bottles single casks of great age, and this one, distilled in 1976, has spent more than four decades in oak.

The light grain spirit, drawn off a continuous Coffey still, was filled into a single ex-Bourbon cask, number DL 12769, and left for forty two years. Over such a span the grain grows deep, oily and rich, the American oak giving coconut, toffee and a tropical lift. It is bottled at its natural 53.3 percent. The distillery joined the Distillers Company in 1884 as its seventh member, and was for a time the largest in the land.

At forty two years it is profound and waxy, coconut, crème brûlée and grilled pineapple over polished old oak, the finish long, oily and sweet. A rare old 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.