Dumbarton 31 Years Old 1987 Cask #10025027 (Duncan Taylor)

From the Huntly bottler Duncan Taylor, a 31 year old Dumbarton single grain, distilled in 1987, from cask 10025027, bottled at 53.3%, one of 200 bottles. Dumbarton, a lost Lowland grain distillery on the River Leven, fell silent in 2002. A flock of around a hundred Chinese geese, the Scotch Watch, guarded its warehouses from 1959.

Worked through continuous columns from maize and malted barley, building the smooth Lowland grain style. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, American oak giving coconut and toffee over the years. At over four decades the light grain has turned deep and resinous, sotolon, coconut and old polished oak. The high strength spirit mellows slowly into a soft, sweet old grain. With the distillery demolished, every bottle draws on a finite, dwindling stock. The geese featured in Ballantine's advertising and became a local landmark before being retired in 2012. With Dumbarton gone, every bottle draws on a finite, dwindling stock.

At a natural 53.3% it is full and oily. Oak lactones lend a deep coconut and vanillin a sweet vanilla, with a crème brûlée richness. A butterscotch and a creamy oak lift it. The close is long, dessert sweet over oak. This is a rare single grain from Dumbarton, silent since 2002.