Glen Mhor 31 Years Old 1975 Cask #4031 (Duncan Taylor)

From the Huntly bottler Duncan Taylor, a 31 year old Glen Mhor, distilled in 1975, from cask 4031, bottled at 42.6%, one of 258 bottles. Glen Mhor, founded in 1892, was one of Inverness's three vanished distilleries. Its make went largely into blends; single malt Glen Mhor is rare and mostly from independents.

The spirit was worked through the stills and worm tubs for a rich, oily body, for a fruity, oily spirit with real body. Maturation in an Oloroso cask laid dried fruit, fig and walnut over the oily malt. In its ethereal years the malt is waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a touch of sotolon (maple, dried fig). Years in oak round the spirit, the orchard fruit deepening to dried fruit and beeswax. Most Glen Mhor went to the blenders, a little kept back to mature as single malt. The clean spirit shows the cask clearly, which is why it suits both bourbon and sherry. Closed in 1983 and demolished in 1986, its profile is fixed for good.

At 42.6%, undiluted, it is deep and waxy. A rich, oily fruitiness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and an oily weight lift it. A long, oily finish carries a dried fruit. This is a full, oily Highland single malt of real age.