Glen Mhor 30 Years Old 1982 Closed Distilleries (Cadenhead’s)

From the Campbeltown house Cadenhead, a 30 year old Glen Mhor, distilled in 1982, bottled at 54.1%, one of 198 bottles. Glen Mhor ran on Loch Ness water in Inverness for over ninety years before closing in 1983. It passed to the Distillers Company in 1972 and was closed in 1983.

This was distilled slow in the Inverness stillhouse, the worm tubs lending weight, the worm tubs lending a full, oily weight. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the oily fruit. Ethereal and fragile, decades draw the oily malt to a waxy, honeyed delicacy of sotolon, dried fruit and old oak. Most Glen Mhor went to the blenders, a little kept back to mature as single malt. Slow oxidation over decades draws the full spirit towards a waxy, oily richness. It was built in 1892 by John Birnie, a former manager of Glen Albyn, with the Leith blender Charles Mackinlay. Years in oak round the spirit, the orchard fruit deepening to dried fruit and beeswax. No new spirit will follow it, the Inverness stills cold since 1983.

At a natural 54.1% it is full and oily. A full, oily orchard fruit, with a soft vanilla from the oak. A dried fruit and a polished oak give it depth. A long, full finish ends on orchard fruit and beeswax. This is the full, oily ghost of Glen Mhor.