Linlithgow 1982 vW (van Wees)

van Wees selected this Linlithgow, aged 28 year old from 1982, drawn from cask 11/75 and bottled at 46%. 284 bottles in all. Linlithgow, also bottled as St. Magdalene, was founded around 1753 by Sebastian Henderson between the canal and the railway and silenced in 1983. There were no official bottlings in its lifetime; fame came with Diageo's Rare Malts.

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. At this age it is deep and elegant, tropical fruit and mineral wax folded into the spirit. Long maturation turns the grassy new make towards honey and soft tropical fruit. It was one of the five founding distilleries of Scottish Malt Distillers in 1914. Closed in the great cull of 1983, it never reopened, the buildings becoming flats.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded. Grass, lemon and a waxy weight sit alongside soft vanilla and honey from the cask. It is mineral and elegant, the grassy spirit shining through. A waxy, white fruit finish lingers long. This is a revered Lowland malt from a distillery silent since 1983.