Whisky : Port Dundas 20 Year, Lady of the Glen

Country/Region : Scotland/Lowland (Demolished)

ABV : 55.4%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon

Age : 20 Years (Distilled 10 Oc. 2000, Bottled 15 Jan. 2021)

Nose :  Custard, vanilla, and pastries.  Coffee shop at dawn: warm toasted pastries, frothy milk, sweet vanilla syrup, a warm fragrant wooden counter, and a rattling coffee grinder.  Sweet and custardy the aroma drifted toward creamy vanilla milkshakes, honey, and a graham cracker pie crust ready for its vanilla custard filling.

Palate :  Medium to heavier body with lots of nice structure and a profile full of cream, pastries, and gentle sweet spice.  Bountiful butterscotch carried forward into creamy vanilla and fried pastries.  Waves of custard arrived with vanilla wafers, pudding, and caramelized flan.  Sweet spicy notes came through as candied ginger and lemon wedges, or combined with pastry notes as lemon-ginger cream cheese scones.  On the back palate were nuttier notes of pistachio and hazelnut mocha coffee cake.

Finish :  Lingering honey, pastries, and creamy sugars.

Score : 7

Mental Image : Quiet Winter Morning in the Café

Notes :  This was an absolute gem— a great single grain whisky aged in a high quality first fill bourbon barrel.  This Port Dundas reminded me of a much older Strathclyde bottled by SMWS last year and which may have been my favorite dram of 2020.  Though this did not quite reach the same level, it was not far off and at less than a quarter the cost.  It was hard to find a lot of fault here, it had an excellent structure and a beautiful vanilla-honey pastry forward palate.  

I worked for a coffee shop throughout much of my college and graduate degree years, so this dram really hit a sweet spot of nostalgia for those early AM shifts.  I loved the aromatic assault of warm air laden with pastries, cream, and coffee when first stepping into the shop in the morning.

Overall, a brilliant bottle and one that I happy grabbed for my whisky closet.