Port Dundas 22 Years Old 1996 Cask #128333 (Signatory Vintage)

This Port Dundas grain was from the independent bottler Signatory Vintage matured to 22 year old, from 1996, drawn from cask 128333 and bottled at 58.1%. 236 bottles in all. Once a vast Glasgow grain distillery, Port Dundas was built in 1811 above the city of Glasgow before being shut in 2010 and demolished soon after. By the 1880s it was pouring out millions of gallons a year for the blenders.

The spirit was worked through continuous patent stills from unpeated wheat with a little malted barley, the gentle grain make once destined for blends. Ex-Bourbon oak held the spirit, the cask adding sweetness rather than weight. At this age grain grows rich and oily, the long oak contact building real depth. Grain enters the cask light and clean, so the wood's character shows clearly against it.

At a hearty 58.1% it shows real weight. The lactones add coconut, vanillin from the lignin gives vanilla, and a rich toffee and fudge note, with the soft grain spirit carrying it. Banana and pineapple flicker through the creamy body. A creamy, lingering finish rounds it off. This is grain from a Glasgow landmark that stands no more.