Mortlach 16 Years Old 2006 Cask #DL 16549 (Douglas Laing)

Douglas Laing, bottling single casks from Glasgow since 1948, selected this 16 Year Old: a 2006 vintage from cask DL 16549, an outturn of 213 bottles. Mortlach, the first licensed distillery in Dufftown, runs a 2.81-times distillation and worm-tub condensers that give the heavy, meaty spirit fans call the Beast of Dufftown.

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

At 52% it shows cooked fruit, honey, a leafy note, malt extract and fresh oak, undiluted. A Beast of Dufftown.