Pittyvaich 25 Years Old 1989 Special Release 2015

Bottled in 2015 at a natural 49.9%, this 25 year old was Pittyvaich's second Diageo Special Release, drawn from the 1989 vintage in an outturn of 5922. The distillery, built by Bell's in 1974 beside Dufftown and closed in 1993, leaves only finite stock, and these older Special Releases are how its make now reaches drinkers. After demolition in 2002, only a dark grains plant remains on the site, processing residue from the surviving Dufftown distilleries.

A full twenty five years in ex-Bourbon American oak takes the spirit well into oxidative maturity. With the fresh esters long settled, the cask has built a waxy weight and a deeper sweetness, the refill oak still letting the light Speyside make show beneath years of slow interaction between wood, spirit and the cool warehouse air.

At 49.9% it is rounded and deep. Caramelised hemicellulose in the toasted oak lends a honeyed, nutty sweetness, lignin gives vanilla, and time draws out fresh fruit, a chocolate note and a soft malt body. The finish is long and gently nutty, the extra years over the first Special Release adding richness and weight to a famously light spirit.