Port Dundas 20 Years Old

A Port Dundas distillery bottling of single grain, aged 20 year old, and bottled at 57.4%. The outturn was 1920 bottles. Port Dundas was Scotland's largest distillery in its prime, built in 1811 above the city of Glasgow and wound down by Diageo in 2010. For decades its light spirit went into blends like White Horse and Bell's.

The spirit was run through the distillery's continuous Coffey stills from a wheat mash drawn on Loch Katrine water, the gentle grain make once destined for blends. Matured in a refill ex-Bourbon cask, letting the clean grain character speak. A decade and a half in oak knits cask and spirit, building a creamy, sweet make. The slow loss of the angel's share, one to two percent a year, has concentrated the liquid over time.

At a natural 57.4% it is bold and full. The oak lends a soft vanilla, with coconut and cream from the lactones and caramelised wood sugars a toffee sweetness, over a base of light citrus and tropical fruit. There is a buttery, dessert like quality long aged grain does so well. The finish runs long, creamy and gently spiced. This is one of a dwindling number of bottlings from a closed grain distillery.