Glenburgie 29 Years Old 1990 Cask #9027801

Gordon and MacPhail bottled this Glenburgie, a 29 year old, distilled in 1990, from cask 9027801, at 52%, one of 422 bottles. Glenburgie is a fragrant Speyside malt, a core flavour of Ballantine's for decades. Its water is drawn from a local spring near the distillery. It was founded in 1810 as Kilnflat by William Paul, taking the Glenburgie name in 1878.

It was distilled in tall onion shaped pot stills, building a light malt of orchard fruit and fresh grass. Maturation came in an Oloroso cask, layered over the fresh Glenburgie make. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to tropical fruit, honey and a waxy, candle wax depth. Built for the blender's art, the make ages with quiet grace as a single malt. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. First fill wood drives the maturation, the cask clear in the spirit.

At a natural 52% it is full and waxy. Apple, pear and a soft honey, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is light and clean, the fruit lifted by a soft oak. It finishes light, fresh and faintly waxy. This is a fragrant Speyside single malt of real lightness.