St. Magdalene 27 Years Old 1982 Sestante International Year of Astronomy (Silver Seal)

From Silver Seal comes this St. Magdalene, a 27 year old release from 1982 and bottled at 54%. Only 180 bottles were released. St. Magdalene was first founded as the Linlithgow distillery in 1753 in West Lothian, west of Edinburgh, and mothballed for good in 1983. It was one of the five founding distilleries of Scottish Malt Distillers in 1914.

It was worked through an unusual set of five stills, floor malted on site, for the oily, grassy style that set it apart from other Lowlanders. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, lending honey and vanilla under the grass. Past twenty five years the spirit turns honeyed and tropical while keeping its edge. Decades in oak round the spirit while keeping its sharp white fruit. It is among the most lamented of all Scotland's lost Lowland distilleries. Closed era stock like this is finite, every bottle one fewer left. Linlithgow lies west of Edinburgh, in the old whisky country of West Lothian.

At a natural 54% it is full and oily. Green apple, citrus and an oily wax meet a quiet vanilla from the refill oak. Beneath it run lemon, grass and a waxy weight. It closes long, waxy and grassy. This is a finite pour from a lamented lost Lowland distillery.