Linkwood 25yo 1983-2008 50% Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing cask#4715
Linkwood is a distillery that rarely sticks out in any way, never bad, never really good, so far at least that is. I know they were mothballed for a while not so long ago, but I don't think they would ever claim the status of a lost gem if closed for good. This one has pale hay color, The nose is light and floral with some light fresh mountain air and freshly baked wholegrain bread. The taste is as bland as it gets, paper, linens, cumin and alcohol-free beer. Water is definitively needed in this one as it brings out some peppery and spirity notes, that even if it doesn't sound too grand lifts this one just above what I call blend-territory.
Light and unfortunately bland: 3
Linkwood 26yo 1960-1986 40% G&M Commemoration Wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson
One of these Royal Wedding commemoration malts, distilled in 1959 and 1960. I cannot recall ever tasting such an old Linkwood before. This one is definitely sherried, phenolic, dry, cinnamon, extremely dry and phenolic for 40%abv, but that doesn't bother me, I like a malt with a bit of a wild side. The taste is peppery, citric, acidic, phenolic, ginger, wasabi, melon, blueberries and port wine.
Perfect sherry influence at low strength: 8
Linkwood 15yo 1990-2006 49.1% C&S Dram Collection cask#10044 btl.69/120
Linkwood, this is sort of a whisky in the middle, not spectacular, never on the top of any lists, but then again, a bad word has never been said about it, at least that I can recall. The one thing I can say about this even before trying it is that it has evaporated a quite substantial amount of alcohol in (just) 15 years, so it may be a poor cask? Hogshead evaporates perhaps more? It smells of tea and burn citrus fruits, like flamed oranges and rubber. The taste is citric and acidic, stays on the tongue for quite a while. The aftertaste is strangely cognac-like, a complex malt at this age with pronounced citric flavors and a finish of sweet grape spirit.
A nice surprise: 7
Linkwood 21yo 1989-2010 53.5% Malts of Scotland cask#1826
A linkwood from a bourbon hogshead, very pale for its age, white wine. Smells sweet, vanilla all the way, definately drawn much flavour from the cask. Give it time and there's even more vanilla appearing on the nose. The taste is very concentrated, vanilla, white pepper, jalapenos. Adding some water. Water gives way to some intense liquorice and mint, with a vanilla and bourbony aftertaste. A good linkwood although a bit rough for its age.
Good stuff: 6
Linkwood 17yo 1992-2009 48% Régis www.whiskymad.co.uk cask#13348
Régis is from what I know a guy doing a whisky-tasting business, talking about the whisky industry and so on, like a malt tutor. Let's see how his cask-choosing skills are. This one is from a sherry cask. it smells sulfur, burnt sugar, dried sage, raisins and apricots. The taste is really strange, some sort of minty sherry, herbal, minty, sweet, kerrygould dubliner cheese, cinnamon and egg yolks. With a small addition of water, it gets amazingly smooth, not very complicated or interesting, but a swell and really drinkable oloroso-matured whisky.
Cheers Régis: 7
Linkwood 15yo 57% Gordon & Macphail
This one is from the 80's, no doubt, I do enjoy The sherried whiskies by Gordon & Macphail from the 80's, to bad they're just getting harder and harder to come by. This one is dry and phenolic as hell, it does taste just as it smells, incredibly strong. I do recommend this to everyone even though I can't describe it more nicely than that it is an absolute sherry monster with a lot of sweetness on the finish.
If you want to experience sherry influence at its strongest: 6.5
Linkwood 25yo 40% Gordon & Macphail
Independent bottlings at 25yo rarely come chillfiltered at 40%, except from Gordon & Macphail. This is pretty dark, sherry or E150? The nose is very concentrated around oakiness, burnt wood and some nice rum-like toffee-notes. This one needs some minutes to open up. The taste is dry, phenol, sugar and a bit flinty. I'll add some water. Much the same with water, a bit reduced on the phenol. But the aftertaste reeks of bad old spirit, the kind you can get from really poor bitters. Once again, I'm having a bit trouble to see what's going on with these 80's G&M-bottlings.
Linkwood's no favourite of mine, but try an OB prior to buying this: 2
Linkwood NAS 40% Gordon & Macphail
Some silt in this G&M bottling, but I don't think G&M did non-chill filtering when this was made, I guess somewhere around 70s-80s. Cask leftovers? Very dark, I'm getting dry sherry notes on the nose, but a very soft nose it is. Some burnt rubber, radish, onions, cherries and sweets. It's almost too light to take seriously. I'll add some water just for the fun of it, maybe it can elicit some aftertaste. It really doesn't.
It's drinkable but that's about it: 4
Linkwood 15yo 43% Gordon & MacPhail's
This bottling of this Speyside classic has a strong and conservative smell, malt and alcohol. It strikes me as a bit bland and boring to be honest. The taste is very rich and meaty, concentrated mango, and smoked salmon. Lot's of good flavours combined in a small glass. It reminds me in a way of some of the Islay malts I've tasted.
A speysider that stands apart, in a good way: 7
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