Carsebridge 35 Years Old 1982 Cask #74604 (Signatory)

A Carsebridge single grain of a 35 year old chosen by the Pitlochry bottler Signatory Vintage, distilled in 1982, from cask 74604, bottled at 48.9%, one of 500 bottles. Carsebridge, by 1980 the largest grain distillery in Scotland, was closed three years later. By 1980 it was the largest grain distillery in Scotland, with three Coffey stills and a dark grains plant.

It was made in Coffey stills before the distillery closed, for a light, sweet make of real purity. A sherry cask wrapped the sweet grain in dried fruit and a nutty depth. At over four decades the light grain has turned deep and resinous, sotolon, coconut and old polished 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. With the distillery long gone, every bottle draws on a finite, dwindling stock. Closed in 1983 and demolished in 1992, its profile is fixed for good.

At a natural 48.9% it is full and oily. The sherry lends dried fruit, fig and walnut, over coconut from oak lactones and a vanillin sweetness. A butterscotch and a creamy oak lift it. It closes long, sweet and oily. This is an old Lowland single grain of real character.