Dumbarton 1997 Aged 22 Years Single Grain Scotch Whisky – Infrequent Flyers #19 (700ml)

Cask Number: 178
Date of Distilling: 1997
Matured In: Virgin Oak Barrel
Un-Chillfiltered

Independent bottlers, have been around for a many years. They source whiskies from different distilleries throughout Scotland and around the world, and using their experience bottle them as single casks. These whiskies are then presented in their most natural form which includes no chill filtering, bottling at natural colour, and more options at cask strength.

Established in 2008 The Alistair Walker Company is based in Grangemouth in Central Scotland. Alistair has almost 20 years experience in the whisky industry and is not affiliated to any one distillery. Alistair’s career in the whisky industry began in January 1997, at Burn Stewart Distillers in a sales and marketing role for over six years. At that time Burn Stewart was the custodian of two single malt distilleries – Deanston and Tobermory. In October 2004, he joined The BenRiach Distillery Company, and remained with them for over twelve years, until the business was eventually sold. This was a new-start business, that had been set up in 2004 following the acquisition, by three entrepreneurs, of the BenRiach Distillery from Pernod Ricard. In addition to BenRiach, Alistair also had the good fortune to work with the GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh Distilleries, with BenRiach having acquired GlenDronach in 2008, and then Glenglassaugh in 2013. In 2018, Alistair found himself on hiatus, and contemplating what to do next.

Keen to be his own boss and also wishing to remain in the whisky sector, he decided to venture into the exciting world of independent bottling. Making the move from distillery to independent bottler is very much a case of ‘gamekeeper turned poacher’. Fortunately, independent bottling is a vibrant category at present; as more and more whisky enthusiasts are seeking out single cask bottlings and whisky releases that are a little different, somewhat unique, and often from less familiar distilleries.

The whiskies the are bottled under the brand name ‘Infrequent Flyers’. That name refers to the nature of many of the casks that are bottled – often whiskies from lesser-known distilleries that are of excellent quality, but have never been widely or consistently available. As such, many of the bottlings are of whiskies that you just don’t see so often – hence the name ‘Infrequent Flyers’.

The Dumbarton distillery was once Scotland’s largest distillery, built in 1938 to supply the demand for grain whisky used in blended malt Scotch. It boasted a production capacity of 13,600,000 litres of spirit per year until it closed in 2002 and later demolished in 2017.

This single cask single grain whisky was distilled at the Dumbarton distillery before being placed in a Virgin oak barrel in 1997 and left to mature. It was then finished in a fresh Virgin Oak barrel before being bottled at  55.3% abv and marks bottling number 19 of the Infrequent Flyers series.

Only 202 bottles were produced for worldwide distribution.

Our Tasting Notes

Nose: Floral, almond meal, digestive biscuits, hob nobs, toasted oats, vanilla fudge.

Palate: Pistachio praline, vanilla sponge, flaked almonds and Snickers bars.

Finish: Oily with mixed nuts, floral and toasted oak.