North Port Brechin 25 Years Old 1977 (Cadenhead’s)

Part of Cadenhead's Authentic Collection and labelled under the historic Brechin name, this 25 year old comes from a 1977 vintage in an outturn of 276 bottles. North Port stood in Brechin, Angus, a Highland distillery the Guthrie family built in 1820 and DCL closed in 1983, its spirit so rarely bottled alone that independent casks like this one make up most of its surviving record.

The whisky matured for a quarter of a century in ex-Bourbon American oak, easy going wood that is low in tannin. Twenty five years takes it well into oxidative maturity, the dry new make fruit deepening into baked orchard fruit while the cask builds a waxy texture and a gentle grip, the strength still holding firm at natural cask power. The clean Brechin spirit, condensed in the distillery's old worm tubs, gave the cask plenty of dry fruit to round out.

Bottled at 56%, this is a robust expression of a dry, ginny malt. Vanilla arrives as the lignin breaks down to vanillin, coconut from the oak lactones, and caramelised hemicellulose adds toffee over the crisp orchard fruit and a faint herbal, juniper lift. Water opens it generously, the finish long and clean, a Cadenhead's record of a demolished Highland distillery.