St. Magdalene 23 Year Old 1982 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask

Douglas Laing, the well known bottler from Glasgow, has bottled quite a few Saint Magdalene from 1982 (a year before the distillery was closed) in their Old Malt Cask series. This means they were bottled at 50% ABV, what Fred Laing describes as the Golden Drinking Strength. This one came from a refill hogshead that yielded 331 bottles.

The nose is not as sweet as I would have expected. Rather grassy and vegetal. Mashed patatoes in the oven with some breadcrumbs on top. Cooked carrots as well. So, let us make that mashed patatoes with carrots. A little weird. Then there is also some sweetness in the form of white fruit and oranges as well as quite some vanilla. And a wonderful trace of peat (yep, no typo).

It is pretty creamy on the palate. The grasses return instantly, but the mashed patatoes make room for grain cookies, the crust of a brown bread and citrus fruit. Here, the peat is clreay present, making this pretty interesting. From the spice rack, I remember pepper and a handful of mint.

The finish is long and sweet with a return of the cooked carrots.

This somewhat weird Saint Magdalene kept me in doubt for a while. In the end, I decided I liked it.

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