Ladyburn 35 Year Old 1975 Rare Ayrshire Signatory Vintage

I guess you could call this liquid history, knowing that the distillery was built in 1966 (on the terrain of the Girvan grain distillery that was built only three years prior) and closed again in 1976. So this is a very rare malt. It matured for 35 years on a bourbon barrel and was then bottled by Signatory. Andrew Symington and his crew were not allowed to use the name Ladyburn, so they called it Rare Ayrshire. Ayrshire is the name of the area where the distillery was located.

The nose is very light on apples and wood shavings. It needs some hand warmth to open up. And still it does not reveal that much. Mostly citrus and some pear drops. A twig of mint gives it a fresh lift.

On the palate, I am first reminded of a lemon jenever. Soft on the spice front, but loads of oak and citrus. Not much else, though.

The finish is fairly long and lightly drying. The oak is loudest now.

Rare is not synonym for good, of course. This is a very innocent little dram. To be found left and right for around 200 EUR.

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