Linlithgow 1975 (Signatory) (51.5%)

Signatory Vintage bottled this Linlithgow single malt, a 26 year old from 1975, drawn from cask 96/3/36 and bottled at 51.5%. A release of 354 bottles. Founded around 1753 by Sebastian Henderson between the canal and the railway, Linlithgow was silenced in 1983. It is prized as a true individual of Scotch.

The spirit was run through the distillery's five stills, two wash and three spirit, to build an oily, individual make that blurs Lowland and Highland lines. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding a light honeyed sweetness. Beyond twenty five years the malt grows waxy and tropical, beeswax and candied fruit over an oily base. Long, cool Lowland maturation lets the oily spirit take oak slowly over many years. The Union Canal ran past the distillery, carrying its casks through the whisky boom years. It was one of the five founding distilleries of Scottish Malt Distillers in 1914.

At its natural 51.5% it is concentrated. A waxy, herbal depth with orchard fruit meet soft vanilla and honey from the cask. Soft citrus and orchard fruit sit behind the sweetness. It finishes clean, oily and individual. This is spirit from the lost years of St Magdalene, finite for good.