Glenburgie 21 Years Old 1995 Cask #6499 + 6500 (Signatory)

This Glenburgie comes from Signatory Vintage, the Edinburgh house that bottles at Edradour above Pitlochry, a 21 year old, distilled in 1995, from cask 6499 + 6500, at 43%. Glenburgie is a Speyside single malt made near Alves in Moray, east of Forres. It was rebuilt in 1881 by Charles Chree Doig, the architect behind so many Speyside stillhouses. Its make has long fed big blends like Old Smuggler down the decades. It was expanded to six stills after the rebuild, one of the bigger distilleries in the group.

The spirit was distilled in tall onion shaped pot stills, for a soft, fruity spirit with a waxy thread. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters of apple and a light tropical note over a waxy depth. Maturation runs slow and even in the cool Speyside warehouses. Years in oak deepen the spirit to old gold, the body growing rounder and waxier with time.

Bottled at 43%, it is light and rounded. Apple, pear and fresh cut grass, with a gentle oak sweetness. A green apple and a gentle citrus lift the middle. It finishes light, fresh and faintly waxy. This is a fragrant Speyside single malt of real lightness.