St. Magdalene 30 Years Old 1975 Rare Old (G&M)

From Gordon & MacPhail comes this St. Magdalene, a 30 year old from 1975 and bottled at 43%. First founded as the Linlithgow distillery in 1753 in West Lothian, west of Edinburgh, St. Magdalene was mothballed for good in 1983. It is bottled under both its names, St Magdalene and Linlithgow.

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. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the oily spirit in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Beyond twenty five years the malt grows waxy and tropical, beeswax and candied fruit over an oily base. Decades in oak round the spirit while keeping its sharp white fruit. Linlithgow lies west of Edinburgh, in the old whisky country of West Lothian. St Magdalene took its name from a convent and leper hospital that once stood on the site.

At 43% it is clean and individual. The Oloroso brings dried fruit, fig and a nutty depth, and 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 finishes clean, oily and individual. This is spirit from the lost years of St Magdalene, finite for good.