Port Dundas 37 Years Old 1973 Cask #128319 (Duncan Taylor)

Duncan Taylor selected this single grain Port Dundas, 37 year old in the wood, from 1973, drawn from cask 128319 and bottled at 55.4%. Only 374 bottles were released. A major grain distillery, Port Dundas was built in 1811 above the city of Glasgow and closed in 2010 after two hundred years. Grain whisky on this scale was the quiet engine of the Scotch blending trade.

The spirit was distilled continuously in tall Coffey column stills using wheat, malted barley and soft Loch Katrine water, a soft, sweet make ideal for blending. Maturation in Oloroso sherry gave the grain a darker, nutty and dried fruit character. At such an age it is a rare, deeply oaked grain, mellow, oily and fine. Grain matures faster than malt, the oak shaping a light spirit into something sweet and round.

Bottled without water at 55.4%, it is robust. Dark fruit and walnut come from the Oloroso, while the lactones add coconut, vanillin from the lignin gives vanilla, and a rich toffee and fudge note, over light citrus and a soft tropical lift. It is plush and silky, the sweetness carried on an oily body. The finish is long and softly drying. This is ever scarcer now the distillery is gone.