The Coleburn Distillery was one of the many distilleries that were built during the whisky boom in the 1890s. But it was also one of the many that were closed during the 1980s. Used for blends only, and according to Whiskybase there were only 2 official single malt bottlings. One from 1902(!), and the other was a 21 year old Coleburn 1979, bottled in 2000. Long after the distillery closed its doors. However, there are also a handful releases by independent bottlers. Like this Coleburn 1980, bottled by Douglas Laing, which I’m going to review today.

This Coleburn has matured in refill butt, and is bottled at 50% ABV. Bottled for the Old Malt Cask series. Cask no. DL2128.

Coleburn 1980 tasting notes:

Nose: Citrus and lots of it! Followed by overripe yellow apples. Some red apples too, and a little bit of hay. Which nicely leads into some sweeter notes. It is also somewhat yeasty and sweet malted barley.

Taste: Citrus and apples. It’s a sugary too. There’s a mixture of herbs. And then we go back to the apples, and quite heavy too. I can’t get past the sweetness, which is a mixture of pure honey and icing sugar.

Finish: Spices and herbs, mixed with the sweetness of icing sugar. The finish is short though, which I think is a shame.

I had the chance to purchase this bottle at a fair price and now I am a bit sad this one is empty. I even forgot to make a decent photo. It is fresh, sweet and very, very drinkable. I would never have guessed that it was bottled at 50% ABV!