Glenburgie 10 Years Old 2008 Cask #800356 (A.D. Rattray)

A.D. Rattray, the Morrison family bottler with its shop in the old village school at Kirkoswald on the Ayrshire coast, bottled this Glenburgie, distilled in 2008, from cask 800356, at 59.8%, one of 307 bottles. Glenburgie is a Speyside single malt made near Alves in Moray, east of Forres. The old distillery was demolished and rebuilt in 2004, only the little stone office left standing. Most of its make goes quietly to blends; single malt Glenburgie is rare, and largely from independents.

It was drawn from a long fermentation, shaping a fine, clean malt with a floral lift. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending a creamy vanilla. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin rounding out as esters lend a riper apple, pear and a soft honey. A soft waxiness from the spirit carries a thread through the maturation. Years in oak deepen the spirit to old gold, the body growing rounder and waxier with time.

At a natural 59.8% it is full and waxy. Baked apple, grass and a light honey, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a soft oak. The finish is light, fruity and clean. This is a light, fruity Speyside single malt.