Dallas Dhu 50 Years Old 1969 Cask #1656 (Private Collection)

From the Elgin house Gordon and MacPhail, a 50 year old Dallas Dhu, distilled in 1969, from cask 1656, bottled at 43.1%, one of 176 bottles. Dallas Dhu was a Speyside distillery near Forres, closed in 1983 and now preserved as a museum. Its malty, fruity spirit went almost entirely into blends, never sold as an official single malt in its day.

Worked through the pot stills for an oily, fruity make, to build a fruity, honeyed Speyside character. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness to the creamy spirit. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and old oak as beeswax and a warm spice linger. Most Dallas Dhu went quietly into the Roderick Dhu blend, a little surviving as single malt. Single malt is rare, mostly from the Rare Malts series and Gordon and MacPhail. The Glasgow blenders Wright and Greig bought it before it opened, for their Roderick Dhu blend, and gave it the name Dallas Dhu. Closed in 1983, it was preserved whole rather than demolished, its profile fixed for good.

Undiluted at 43.1%, it is layered. Orchard fruit, honey and a faint smoke, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is fruity and malty, the oily spirit shining through. The close is long, fruit over a malty oil. This is an oily, honeyed Speyside single malt.