Cambus 30 Years Old 1988 (Single Cask)

Cadenhead's selected this Cambus, a 30 year old release distilled in 1988 and bottled at 46.1%. Only 300 bottles were released. Cambus was a founding distillery of DCL, making grain whisky in Clackmannanshire until it closed in 1993. In 1906 its grain was advertised on the front of the Daily Mail as not a headache in a gallon, during the What is Whisky debate.

The spirit was made in twin Coffey stills before the distillery closed, for a light, sweet make of real purity. Ex-Bourbon casks held the grain, soft oak that drives the sweetness. Past twenty five years the spirit turns oily and dessert sweet while staying clean. Patient ageing gives the oily, waxy texture prized in old single grain. Grain whisky like this gains coconut and toffee from decades in active oak. The light, sweet grain takes on a deep, oily richness over many years. The distillery stood near Alloa, in the old brewing and distilling country of the River Devon.

At cask strength 46.1% it is full bodied. The ex-Bourbon gives crème brûlée, coconut and vanilla. The texture is oily and buttery, the sweetness coating. A warming, sweet finish lingers. This is the sweet, oily grain of a vanished DCL distillery.