Dumbarton 20 Years Old Private Stock (Douglas Laing)

The Glasgow bottler Douglas Laing bottled this Dumbarton single grain, a 20 year old, distilled in 2000, bottled at 59.5%, one of 224 bottles. Dumbarton ran continuous column stills by the Clyde for over sixty years before closing in 2002. It was taken over by Allied in 1987, and grain production later moved to Strathclyde.

Run off the distillery's continuous column stills, to build a soft, sweet grain character. A bourbon hogshead held it, the long maturation drawing out a buttery coconut. Into oxidative maturity the grain deepens, oak lactones giving a full coconut and vanillin a rich vanilla over the sweet spirit. Grain whisky like this rewards very long maturation, the wood giving most of the character. It closed in 2002 and the buildings, the red tower among them, were later demolished for housing. Continuous distillation gives a light, clean spirit, so decades in oak drive much of the flavour. Closed in 2002 and since demolished, its profile is fixed for good.

At its natural 59.5% it is concentrated. 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 a vanishing relic of Scotland's largest grain distillery.