Port Dundas 25 Years Old 1988 Cask #DH 10378 (Douglas Hamilton)

This Port Dundas grain was from the independent bottler Douglas Hamilton at 25 year old from 1988, drawn from cask DH 10378 and bottled at 55.2%. Port Dundas, a vast Glasgow grain distillery built in 1811 above the city of Glasgow, was shut in 2010 and demolished soon after. Its grain fed great blends such as Johnnie Walker and Haig for generations.

Grain whisky like this was produced by continuous distillation in Coffey stills from a mash of wheat and malted barley, giving a delicate spirit that ages oak first. Refill American oak shaped it, soft wood that lets the grain lead. Two decades and more carry the grain into a deep, rounded maturity, concentrated and waxy. Refill oak, having given its sharpest compounds to an earlier fill, works slowly and lets the spirit lead.

At a full 55.2% it is deep and strong. Lignin gives vanilla, oak lactones lend a soft coconut, and a creme brulee and butterscotch note, across a soft, fruity grain backbone. A light citrus and soft tropical fruit run beneath the sweetness. It closes long, sweet and gently woody. This is a finite pour from a Glasgow distillery long gone.