North Port Brechin 24 Years Old 1977 (Cadenhead’s)

This 24 year old sits alongside its 25 year old sibling in Cadenhead's Authentic Collection, both bottled under the Brechin name from the distillery's 1977 stock, this one in an outturn of 294. The make comes from North Port in Angus, a Highland plant the Guthries founded in 1820 and that DCL closed for good in 1983 during the industry's deep cull of surplus capacity.

Maturation ran for twenty four years in ex-Bourbon American oak. The whisky has reached full oxidative maturity, the spirit and oak knitted together, the dry orchard fruit rounded into a baked fruit depth with a waxy edge while the natural cask strength keeps it bright and firm throughout the palate. The light spirit, condensed in worm tubs at Brechin, took the oak slowly and kept its dry shape throughout.

Bottled at 57%, it shows North Port's dry fruit with real intensity and an almost gin lift. From the oak comes vanilla, as lignin degrades into vanillin, with a creamy coconut from the lactones and a touch of caramelised sweetness over the crisp fruit and faint juniper. Reduced with a little water it softens beautifully, the finish long and dry, from a distillery demolished in 1994 with a supermarket now on the site.