Whisky: Glendullan 8 Year “Pure Malt” (c. early 1990s)

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 40%

Cask: Oak

Age: 8 Years

Nose: Mild and mellow, lemon-lime, bubblegum, minerals, honey, crushed ginger, driftwood, coconut oil.

Palate: Medium to light bodied, lemon, vanilla, poppyseeds, black sesame, pound cake, hints of bitter oak, herbal tea, and icing sugar.

Finish: Medium to long with lemon, cream, and hints of an herbal tobacco.

Score: 7

Mental Image: Summer Themed Bake-sale

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was mild, mellow, and light— a refreshing and inviting mix of citrus and tropical treats. Lemon-lime soda and bubblegum arrived with hints of mineral water and salt. With time sweet honey, crushed ginger, driftwood, and a coconut oil note that occasionally verged on sunscreen developed. Medium to light-bodied, the flavor profile featured ample lemony pastries— pound cake with icing sugar, lemon poppyseed cake, or cookies with black sesame icing. Subtle notions of cream, tobacco, over-steeped tea, and bitter oak lingered in the background. On the medium to long finish was lemon, cream, and mild herbal tobacco.

I did not expect much from this bottle beyond an interesting story. Glendullan pure malt was only released for a few years in the early nineties; it combined malt from both the original and rebuilt Glendullan distilleries. As it used malt from two different distilleries— or two incarnations of the same distillery depending on one’s point of view— it was labeled with the now-discontinued moniker “pure malt.”

Considering the whisky was only eight years old at bottling, had sat in a bottle for nearly thirty years, and was bottled at 40%, I really did not expect to be all that impressed. When we tasted this during a local whisky club event that featured “vintage” single malts, we scheduled this first in the lineup— a good warm-up for the palate. The Glendullan almost stole the show; it was not rich or complex, but the mellow and mild flavor profile and mouthfeel were just so pleasant and more than any of us expected to get out of the bottle. The finish was pleasantly long, and this seemed an ideal sipper on the hot days of summer.