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| Hello, that is one in every of our (virtually) every day tastings. Santé! |
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August 20, 2021
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The Final Classes
At present Linkwood
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There’s this new previous Linkwood Prima & Ultima and this time we will attempt to add extra sparring-partners than standard, as WF’s wee ‘Linkwood’ shelf is slightly well-stocked today. However no worries, we maintain taking all the things carefully, together with moderation as Oscar Wilde as soon as mentioned. And logic, shall I add. We’ll additionally attempt to discover one of many distillery’s markers as skilled by Michael Jackson, roses.
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Linkwood 17 yo 2001/2018 (46%, Scyfion Selection, Madrasa cask end, 324 bottles) 
Our Ukrainian buddies have bottled fairly a number of humorous whiskies completed in uncommon wine casks from their areas. This time it is Madrasa, a pink varietal from Caucasus and areas across the Caspian sea. Frankly, that is extra charming than when everybody’s doing pink Bordeaux. Studying about wine with whisky, that is one thing new! Color: gold. Nostril: I’ve seen a number of occasions already that Scyfion have just lately turn into extra ‘average’ with their finishings, even when this one does show some tart and fruity notes of… white wine. Juicy Fruit, lemon drops, English birthday cake, blueberry muffin, pomegranates, rum baba… So we’re slightly secure, because it seems. Mouth: maybe somewhat extra unbalanced, with many extra fruit gums, bubblegum, certainly birthday cake (with tons of icing sugar) then whisky bitter, with one thing fermentary and maybe notes of cherry-flavoured kriek beer. Greater than okay however I preferred the nostril higher, there is a wee feeling of chemical/soda right here. One thing by The Coca-Cola Firm (do not shoot!) End: medium, on related bonbony, candy-like notes. Cherry Coke. Sourer aftertaste. Feedback: fairly high quality at first, however issues began to deteriorate on the palate. Nonetheless of fairly good high quality.
SGP:641 – 78 factors. |
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Linkwood 13 yo 2007/2021 (54.1%, The Single Malts of Scotland, APAC unique, cask #804456, 282 bottles) 
This must be the entire reverse of the Scyfion. Color: white wine. Nostril: completely spirit pushed certainly, you are virtually nosing a recent baguette coated with chalk and lightweight acacia honey, plus some cracked pepper, porridge and muesli. It is quite simple, however on this case that is virtually the other of a fault. With water: identical, even perhaps chalkier. Drops of ginger tonic and lemon marmalade. Mouth (neat): thick, creamy, virtually syrupy, with very good lemons and as soon as once more some chalk, bread and beer. When simplicity is an asset. With water: some chalky limoncello and a wee floral facet. Edible flowers, pansies, borage… End: medium, on the identical profile for some time, with grapefruits taking on in the long run. Feedback: simply very excellent, virtually refreshing.
SGP:551 – 87 factors. |
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Linkwood 10 yo 2010/2020 (55.5%, Elixir Distillers, Whisky Path, hogshead, cask #312699, 282 bottles)
I am unsure I am getting all the things from this label and hey, it isn’t even from an ex-bourbon barrel. Maybe is it only a matter of… having enjoyable? Color: gold. Nostril: nicely it was a slightly lively hogshead, as I am discovering slightly loads of custard, cinnamon cake, gingerbread, then jasmine and wisteria, even violets… Fairly intriguing, this. With water: something on your breakfast. Maple syrup and pancakes, breads, muesli, muffins and scones, toasts, plus naturally, Champagne. Bear in mind, 6cl of Champagne for breakfast will elevate the entire day. Mouth (neat): very lively certainly, this time slightly on pink pepper and marmalade, prickly pears, grenadine, peach liqueur… This child’s obtained strictly nothing to do with the 2007. I discover it excellent. With water: no, there, lemons and chalk, that is the basic combo. End: lengthy, identical. Feedback: completely different fashion, identical top quality – and drinkability. Not for breakfast although.
SGP:651 – 87 factors. |
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Appears to be like like we’re caught in the midst of a mini retro-verticale of Elixir’s Linkwoods…
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Linkwood 8 yo 2011/2020 (57.9%, The Single Malts of Scotland, sherry butt, cask #306020, 626 bottles)
As everyone knows, Linkwood tends to take sherry nicely… Color: straw. Nostril: my goodness, olive and sesame oils! And peanut oil! What’s this magic? Then bitter oranges and notes of fino, in addition to recent walnuts simply fallen from the tree. With water: panettone and kougelhopf dough, extra peanut oil, much less of the opposite oils. Mouth (neat): wealthy char, oranges, lemon drops, earl gray and Timut pepper. You are proper, no oils this time, maybe a tiny dollop of sesame? With water: as virtually all the time, the lemons are likely to have the higher hand in good whiskies, which is the case right here. End: medium, fairly tight, lemony, however with an oily texture once more. Feedback: supersonic nostril, the palate was excellent too however it was extra the velocity of a Boeing. Spectacular at simply 8.
SGP:551 – 87 factors. |
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Linkwood 10 yo 2010/2020 (55%, Dram Mor, 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #306772)
Color: gold. Nostril: I am discovering some oils right here too, however that will slightly be round linseed oil, even paraffin oil. Peanuts are again as nicely, vanilla from the barrel, wisteria and jasmine this time once more, a wee mustiness (good wine cellar) and a contact of cedarwood, leather-based and agricole rum. With water: cinnamon rolls, pipe tobacco, roasted peanuts, that wee mustiness once more, in addition to this linseed oil. Mouth (neat): thick, wealthy, flavourful, beginning with heavy teas and happening with marmalade and walnut cake. Prefer it, as anticipated. However wasn’t it slightly a refill sherry cask? With water: excellent certainly, on teas and spices, garam masala, crude chocolate, damsons… End: medium, a tad drying and leathery, however actually good. A contact of mint and oranges within the aftertaste, which is all the time welcome. Feedback: slightly un-barrel, however that is me. One other excellent one, identical rating as most.
SGP:561 – 87 factors. |
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Inform me about some grouped fireplace!
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Linkwood 11 yo 2009/2021 (53.7%, The Maltman, bourbon hogshead, cask #307137, 291 bottles)
Let’s examine what Donald Hart has discovered… Color: wealthy gold. Nostril: it’s a sourer proposition, with extra wine and cordials, orange wine, shoe polish, sudden whiffs of wooden smoke, and actually loads of petroly riesling. I actually would not know the place all that is coming from. Aside from that, we have some fudge and custard, which come anticipated. Linkwood’s trademark floral facet is again as nicely, with certainly wisteria but additionally its older marker, rose petals. With water: nuttier, as soon as once more you’d consider it was sherry. There’s even somewhat ‘good sulphur’. Gun that shot. Mouth (neat): loads of motion in right here, shoe and metallic polishes, plasticine, triple-sec, tobacco and previous walnuts, somewhat rum. With water: as soon as once more, are we useless certain this wasn’t sherry? Does Linkwood harbour some sherry notes by beginning? We might have identified, I suppose. End: slightly lengthy, beautiful, form of somewhat vintage, slightly within the fashion of a lot older bottlings, with some meaty, metallic, and smoky sides. Even somewhat cognac. Feedback: not precisely younger Linkwood ex-bourbon, however there, whisky’s additionally about mysteries and magic.
SGP:562 – 87 factors. |
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We’re exaggerating now, are we not. However keep in mind Oscar Wilde. BTW, I handed by his loopy grave the opposite day in Paris, you must actually see it if you have not already. Extra younger Linkwood please…
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Linkwood 10 yo 2010/2020 (62.2%, Whisky Is The Restrict, Swiss Version, Bordeaux pink wine barrique)
They would not let you know in regards to the château, however they mentioned this was cabernet franc plus merlot. Which ends up in St-Emilion… Cheval Blanc has obtained loads of cabernet franc, however shh… No, nothing to do with White Horse, though there can be ties between the house owners of Cheval Blanc, LVMH, and Diageo, house owners of the White Horse model. One for the conspiracy theorists of whisky, be my visitor… Oh and certainly, Linkwood belongs to Diageo too… The plot thickens… Color: gold, with a faint roséness. Nostril: generally these work, particularly when the make is a simple one. So I am discovering recent sourdough and whiffs of blood oranges, however at such excessive energy we can’t attempt to nostril it too deeply. With water: extra basic, virtually sherried malt, with nuts, herbs, raisins and one thing somewhat fermentary. Fairly some vegetal oils too, within the fashion of that beautiful 8yo by Elixir. Yoghurt. Mouth (neat): was the barrique recharred? Butterscotch and tea with milk, in brief one thing English. However then once more, the excessive energy… With water: fruits, berries, jams, raspberries and bread, biscuits. End: identical plus spices, bell pepper, Timut pepper, Seville oranges… Feedback: we are likely to joke about whisky in pink wine, however this was a high quality exception, even when it stays ‘not completely for us’.
SGP:651 – 85 factors. |
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Let’s go down the vintages, it was about time…
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Linkwood 24 yo 1996/2021 (54.8%, The Maltman for HNWS Taiwan, bourbon barrel, cask #8712, 195 bottles) 
Color: straw. Nostril: rather more mashy than the kids, with mashed potatoes ala Robuchon (50% potatoes, 50% butter), recent croissants, whiffs of white ham, clay, white asparagus, even weissbeer… Certainly it is all fairly white (do we’ve that situation known as synaesthesia?) With water: bread and stones, grist, an previous mill at a distillery (Porteus? Boby? Extra about these in Nick’s new guide (*)) and simply lemon juice. Mouth (neat): slightly sizzling, fermentary, on ale and fudge, then kumquats and Werther’s Originals. Butterscotch eh. With water: humorous, with a fairly dry-waxy facet (paraffin) and somewhat turpentine, then tight limes and actually a lot much less butterscotch. A little bit café latte, although. The truth is, I believe this is superb. End: slightly lengthy, on lemon tarte. Proper, tarte au citron. Nothing beats tarte au citron, besides macarons au citron. Possibly. Feedback: slightly grand Linkwood, with some oomph and robust opinions. Yeah, a tasting is a dialog.
SGP:561 – 89 factors. |
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Time to have the brand new OB…
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Linkwood 39 yo 1981/2021 (52.9%, OB, Prima & Ultima, 701 bottles) 
Some sherry witchcraft right here, that’s to say double-maturation with some PX and oloroso concerned, however I actually respect the truth that they might stay clear all alongside, whereas different makers will allow you to consider that their uncommon previous whiskies have spent all their lives in a single real sherry bodega butt earlier than disgorging. Is not mendacity by omission a number of distillers’ (and brewers, and winemakers…) favorite sport? Color: amber. Nostril: fir wooden at first, sauna oils, pine needles, balsa wooden, then slightly lighter Cuban puros (I used to get pleasure from my Gloria Cubanas twenty years in the past) and chestnut purée, raisins, fig arrack, clay, walnut wine and liqueur (nocino)… Beautiful, completely beautiful. With water: figs stand out, sawn hardwoods, Turkish delights, marzipan… Mouth (neat): hey it is virtually brutal at 39, lets name it Tyson? Nice thick candy wine (muscat de Beaumes de Venise, nothing to do with Venice), orange liqueur, Sauternes, then my favorite fruit salad (peeled oranges, honey, olive oil) and simply sultanas. This oldie could be very talkative, fairly presumably as a result of it has been neatly ‘revived’. With water: does the peacock’s tail, with chestnuts and pumpkin seeds, bean curd and marzipan, dates and figs, cappuccino and Nutella (apologies), milk chocolate and Jaffa desserts… whereas all that joyous feast would find yourself on marmalade. Marmalade, official companion of many a single malt whisky. End: maybe a tiny-tad oakier? Nevertheless it all stays below management and slightly on beautiful piney notes than on drying sawdust. Feedback: did I point out figs? You do really feel, generally, that some sensible lab work’s been executed, however I am certain that was for the higher, if not the belter.
SGP:651 – 90 factors. |
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(*) Oh yeah, forgot to say, I’d have preferred to put in writing about Dr Nick Morgan’s new guide earlier however I wished to first learn it. I do know, how old style. I’ve now learn the half and it is slightly fascinating, discretely witty, generally pleasantly schizophrenic, mixing just a few tiny company reflexes, maybe somewhat conditioned (about terroir or glassware, for instance), with more often than not, actual behind-the-curtain info and opinions that you’d simply not discover in different books. Having mentioned that, I’d say the guide is round 78 occasions much less ‘company’ than every other books which have been written by high-ranked or previously high-ranked trade folks. To be trustworthy, the very overwhelming majority of the whisky books that sit at WF Towers are reference books that you’d have opened each time you have been having a query (‘remind me how Mortlach works’) however this one’s completely different. I believe even seasoned lovers will learn this quasi-essay from cowl to cowl, precisely the form of guide that is wanted whereas loads of common encyclopaedic whisky stuff is now obtainable on-line. Anyway, as they are saying at Arsenal FC, ‘extra later’.
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All the things You Have to Know About
Whisky (However are too afraid to ask)
Nick Morgan
The Whisky Trade, Ebury Press |
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PS: Whiskyfun wants new live performance evaluations!
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