Carsebridge 30 Years Old 1982 Cask #74690 (LMDW)

The bottler La Maison du Whisky bottled this Carsebridge single grain, a 30 year old, distilled in 1982, from cask 74690, bottled at 50.8%, one of 198 bottles. Carsebridge was founded in 1799 by John Bald, and became one of the largest grain distilleries in Scotland. With the distillery long gone, every bottle draws on a finite, dwindling stock.

The spirit was made in Coffey stills before the distillery closed, giving a clean, mellow grain whisky. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, coconut and vanilla drawn slowly into the grain. Ethereal and old, oak lactones give a profound coconut and vanillin a waxy vanilla, over tropical fruit and mellow oak. Long ageing turns light grain into a deep, oily, dessert sweet whisky. Continuous distillation gives a light, clean spirit, so decades in oak drive much of the flavour. Closed in 1983 and demolished in 1992, its profile is fixed for good.

At cask strength 50.8% it is full bodied. The ex-Bourbon gives coconut from oak lactones and vanilla from vanillin, over a buttery toffee. The mouthfeel is oily, the coconut carried on a sweet body. The close is long, dessert sweet over oak. This is an old single grain from a closed Lowland distillery.