Carsebridge 30 Years Old 1965 Cask #155091 (Signatory)

A Carsebridge single grain of a 30 year old chosen by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, distilled in 1965, from cask 155091, bottled at 57.6%, one of 461 bottles. Carsebridge is a closed grain distillery, its old single grain now a finite, dwindling stock. Its cooperage outlived the distillery, working until 2011 when it moved to Cambus.

The spirit was drawn from Coffey stills on Gartmorn Dam water, building the gentle Lowland grain style. Ex-Bourbon casks held the grain for decades, soft oak that drives the sweetness. Ethereal and old, oak lactones give a profound coconut and vanillin a waxy vanilla, over tropical fruit and mellow oak. Decades in cask build a waxy, polished depth over the light Carsebridge spirit. The clean grain base lets the cask speak clearly across the long years. By 1980 it was the largest grain distillery in Scotland, with three Coffey stills and a dark grains plant. No new spirit will follow it, the stills cold since 1983.

At a hearty 57.6% it carries real weight. Oak lactones lend a deep coconut and vanillin a sweet vanilla, with a crème brûlée richness. The mouthfeel is oily, the coconut carried on a sweet body. A long, oily finish carries a coconut lift. This is a vanishing relic of one of Scotland's great grain distilleries.