Signatory North British 17yo & North Star Spirits North British 30yo Series 27

Signatory North British 17yo

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 46.0%

Price: £30.95

Distilled at North British in 2008 and bottled in 2026, this 17 year old single grain forms part of Signatory Vintage’s Un-Chillfiltered Collection. It is a small batch vatting of first fill sherry hogsheads and refill bourbon barrels, bottled without added colour or chill filtration.

Nose

The nose opens with an initial herbaceous quality appearing, dried leaves, a little thyme, moving into dried fruits - dates, plum jam and cinder toffee. We keep going back to this herbal note, there's some bruised mint leaf now showing. The sherry is definitely quite prominent here, and covering up a lot of the younger grain spirit notes. There's a bit of spice to the nose, ground ginger and cinnamon mainly, and some soft vanilla in the background.

Palate

The palate opens with raspberry jam, light brown sugar, coconut macarons, vanilla sponge and custard cream biscuits. There's a sugar syrup like texture to the dram, with some white chocolate and raisins intermingling quite pleasantly. The spice is primarily wood spice, lots of cinnamon sugar, maybe some candied ginger too, and the finish does linger on for a decent length. There's more bourbon cask sweetness on the palate as opposed to the sherry-dominant nose.

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose feels lighter on the dry, earthy sherry, and it's been replaced with zinger, underripe berries and red fruits. There's also a bit more vanilla, buttercream and light brown sugar coming through. There's a bit more of the grain spirit character coming through now too.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate feels richer, nuttier, candied almonds, toffee crisp bars, ginger snap biscuits, darker brown sugar, even a little milky coffee and some milk chocolate buttons. The mouthfeel and finish remain mostly unchanged, but actually it's a little more balanced with a drop of water.

Conclusion

We were slightly skeptical on the nose, it was overly dry and earthy in places, however the palate is well balanced with the bourbon and sherry casks working quite nicely together. A very drinkable dram, with a few interesting notes that would keep us coming back.

Score: 7/10

Value

This is some of the cheapest grain whisky you can get on the market.

North Star Spirits North British 30yo Series 27

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 50.2%

Price: £59.95

A single cask North British grain whisky distilled in December 1995, and bottled in 2026 by North Star Spirits for the UK as part of their 10 Year anniversary series. The cask was a refill hogshead which yielded 436 bottles.

Nose

The nose opens with butter biscuits, a little nail varnish remover, chlorine, custard and light vanilla aromas. It's fairly typical grain, perhaps leaning more into the spiritous side than other well aged grain whiskies. The ABV is fairly well integrated, a little background ginger spice note but otherwise quite gentle. Time and air brings out more of the cask influence, we're getting some fresh lemon, sweetcorn, buttercream and icing sugar. 

Palate

The palate opens with a big hit of fresh vanilla, warming oak spice, toffee bon bons, caramel wafers and some black pepper as the palate develops. It's a little warmer on the palate than we'd have expected, but it's a mixture of peppery spice and some accents of zesty lime and lemon juice. The mouthfeel is fine, not overly textured but there's some viscosity there, and the dram gets a little richer, deeper toffees and caramels as we sit with it. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose is much more lively, with the grain spirit jumping out, alongside vanilla sponge cake and some whipped buttercream. We're also finding a little white chocolate too. Otherwise, not much else has changed. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate is also a little more lively, more citrus now, those lemon and lime flavours really coming through, moving into more buttercream and custard flavours. The spice has been tamed somewhat now, and the texture has mostly remained intact.

Conclusion

A quaffable grain whisky - one that isn't blowing us away with complexity but one we can sit with around friends and enjoy without thinking too much about it.

Score: 6.5/10

Value

30yo Grain for £60 is a fantastic price.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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