North Port 15 Years Old 1974 (Sestante)

Bottled by Sestante, one of the Italian houses that championed Scotch single malts in the 1980s, this 15 year old is an early and scarce North Port. The 1974 vintage comes from the Angus distillery the Guthries founded in 1820, bottled in 1989 just a few years after DCL closed the plant in 1983, and reduced to a gentle 43% for the Italian market.

Fifteen years in Oloroso sherry wood gave the dry, light spirit an early dried fruit frame while keeping it relatively youthful. The cask's melanoidins had begun building raisin and nutty notes, the sherry tannins adding a little grip, the whisky sitting in early oxidative maturity with plenty of its own character still showing through. Reduction to forty three per cent suits the relatively young age, holding the sherry and the spirit in easy balance.

Bottled at 43%, it balances sherry and spirit nicely. The melanoidins give raisin and a walnut edge, a touch of residual sugar adds sweetness, and North Port's dry orchard fruit and almost gin lift cut through the Oloroso. The finish is medium and gently nutty, a 1980s Italian bottling of a Highland distillery that had only just closed its doors when this was filled.