Glasgow’s Port Dundas distillery, founded in 1811, was a pivotal yet often overlooked landmark in Scotland’s whisky industry. Initially a malt distillery, it soon shifted to grain whisky production with Coffey stills. In 1860, it merged with Cowlairs distillery, and in 1902 absorbed Dundashill, then the world’s largest pot still distillery. By 1885, Port Dundas was Scotland’s largest distillery, producing over two million gallons annually using American corn, barley, and rye. It was a founding member of the Distillers Company Limited (DCL) in 1877, supplying grain whisky for major blends like Johnnie Walker and Haig. Despite surviving fires and wartime closures, it modernized in the 1970s. However, in 2010, owner Diageo consolidated production at Cameronbridge, leading to Port Dundas’s closure and demolition in 2011. We review two independent bottlings from the now-defunct distillery: the Port Dundas 46 and 47yo Scott’s Selection.
Port Dundas 1964 46-year-old (2010) Scott’s Selection Review
Distilled in 1964, this first Port Dundas whisky was bottled in 2010 at 46 years of age by Scott’s Selection. They bottled it at cask strength, which is 44.1% ABV. Unfortunately, that’s about all the information we have on this whisky, which is now long gone.
Colour:
Ginger (yes, it’s not in my scale)
Nose:
Neat: The nose is intense, featuring custard and toffee, along with oak and some oak spices. There are very light hints of solvent and milk chocolate, giving it a bourbon-like character without excessive polished woodiness.
Palate:
Neat: The palate is also quite bourbon-like. It offers flavors of toasted oak, toffee, pepper, vanilla, instant coffee, and coconut husk, with a touch of lemon peel.
Finish:
Finally, the finish has some light tartness with toasted oak and spices, and apple caramel lingers for a long moment.
Comments:
Nice but simple, it feels more like a teen bourbon than an old and dignified single grain. You don’t really experience the decades spent in cask, so despite the fact that this whisky is above average, you’ll find way better for just a fraction of its current (inflated) price.
Rating: 6/10
Port Dundas 1965 47-year-old Scott’s Selection (2012) Review
This second Port Dundas was distilled in 1965 and bottled in 2012 at 47 years of age by Scott’s Selection. Matured in a hogshead, it was also bottled at cask strength (43.6% ABV). You could get one in a German shop still listing it, but as they sell it at a stupid €800 I won’t put a link to it.
Colour:
Ginger
Nose:
Neat: Completely different from the 1964, we seem to have a sherry cask here. Overripe, almost rotten bananas, baby puke and compost, you’d think this is from a sulphur’ed sherry cask. Some wood and ‘dark’ caramel, but not a lot going on because of the bananas taking front, center and almost all of the back stage.
Palate:
Neat: It feels lighter than the 1964 in terms of mouthfeel. Vanilla, quite some oak, oranges, caramel and pepper, green apples, then juicy lemons and grapefruit. On a second sip, it becomes slightly drying, with dark chocolate and some more spicy oak. There’s also something pungent off I cannot pinpoint.
Finish:
Orange juice, salted caramel and cedar wood, lingering for quite a long moment, then some more woody bitterness.
Comments:
Unfortunately the nose is more than disappointing with the rotten bananas and baby puke eclipsing almost everything else, and the palate is not really better, feeling overly woody and unbalanced. Clearly a couple of steps down from the 1964.