Dumbarton 21 Years Old 2000 Cask #211100 (PerfectDram)

This Dumbarton single grain was bottled by PerfectDram, a 21 year old, distilled in 2000, from cask 211100, bottled at 56.7%, one of 222 bottles. Dumbarton made grain whisky from 1938 until its closure in 2002, mostly for Ballantine's. Its iconic red brick tower, built to echo Hiram Walker's Canadian distillery, housed the continuous stills.

It was worked through continuous columns from maize and malted barley, giving a clean, mellow grain whisky. Ex-Bourbon casks held the grain for decades, soft oak that drives the sweetness. Through oxidative maturity the grain turns oily and deep, coconut and crème brûlée to the fore. Continuous distillation gives a light, clean spirit, so decades in oak drive much of the flavour. With the distillery gone, the casks that remain are a finite record of its make. The light Lowland grain gains its deep coconut and toffee entirely from the cask. With Dumbarton gone, every bottle draws on a finite, dwindling stock.

At a natural 56.7% it is full and oily. The American oak gives vanillin vanilla and lactone coconut, with a polished, toffee sweetness. It is clean and sweet, the old grain shining through. It finishes clean, sweet and buttery. This is a finite single grain from the lost Dumbarton distillery.