Mortlach 16 Years Old 2004 (Hart Brothers)

Hart Brothers, bottling single casks from Glasgow since the 1960s, drew this 16 Year Old, a 2004 vintage, an outturn of 258 bottles. Mortlach, the Beast of Dufftown, condenses its spirit in worm tubs and part-triple-distils through the tiny Wee Witchie still, building weight and a savoury, sulphury core.

By sixteen years the heavy, sulphury make had turned oxidative, esters and acetals lending dried fruit and a savoury, oily weight beneath the vanilla.

At 52.6% it shows citrus, honey and an oak-framed depth carried on the heavy Dufftown body, undiluted. A muscular Speyside malt.