North Port Brechin 21 Years Old 1981 (Gordon & MacPhail)

Gordon & MacPhail returned to its 1981 Brechin stock for this 21 year old Connoisseurs Choice, a little older than its 19 year old stablemate and from the same final years of production. North Port stood in Brechin, Angus, founded by the Guthrie family in 1820 and closed by DCL in 1983, its spirit kept alive mostly through patient Elgin bottlings like this one.

Twenty one years in ex-Bourbon American oak carried the dry, light malt into full oxidative maturity. The extra time over the younger sibling rounded the orchard fruit further and built a little more depth, the soft refill wood lending a steady sweetness while the spirit's crisp, dry character held its shape through the years. Reduction to forty per cent softens the edges but leaves the dry, clean Brechin character clearly in place beneath the oak.

Bottled at 40%, it drinks soft and clean. Lignin breakdown lends vanilla through vanillin, the oak lactones a gentle coconut, and the dry orchard fruit and faint citrus of North Port's make run right through it. A light toasted sweetness closes a long, easy finish, a Connoisseurs Choice snapshot of a Highland distillery long since gone from Brechin.