Strathclyde 33 Years Old 1990 Cask #6439179 (Duncan Taylor)

This Strathclyde was from the independent bottler Duncan Taylor, aged 33 year old from 1990, drawn from cask 6439179 and bottled at 51%. A release of 82 bottles. Founded in 1927 on an old cotton mill site in Glasgow, Strathclyde is Glasgow's only grain distillery. The malt distillery Kinclaith lived inside its walls from 1957 until 1975.

The spirit was run through column stills, an analyser and a rectifier, on Loch Katrine water, to build a soft, sweet grain character. A sherry cask wrapped the sweet grain in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Beyond twenty five years the grain grows deep and oily, coconut, butterscotch and crème brûlée over polished oak. Patient ageing gives the oily, waxy texture prized in old single grain. The continuous still gives a clean, high strength spirit that mellows with years. Strathclyde takes its name from the old region around Glasgow. Decades in ex-Bourbon wood turn light grain into a rich, oily whisky.

Undiluted at 51%, it is layered. The Oloroso brings dried fruit and a nutty depth over the sweet grain. A butterscotch and a creamy oak lift it. It finishes clean, sweet and buttery. This is the light, sweet grain style of Strathclyde.