[Quick review] Linkwood - 12 years od Fragrant Drops 58%

 

Picture courtesy of www.corkandcask.co.uk


A second review from new indie bottler Fragrant Drops. And this time it is a Linkwood 12 years old (2010/2022) fully matured in an ex-Tokaji wine barrel and bottled unchillfiltered, undiluted and uncoloured, at 58%


Distillery: Linkwood

Bottler: Fragrant Drops

Age: 12 years old

Distilled: 2010

Bottled: 2022

Cask: Ex-Tokaji barrel

Abv: 58.0%

Unchillfiltered: Yes

Natural Colour: Yes

Nb of bottles: 260

Extra: Cask #3001290


My tasting notes:

Nose: Fruity sweetness, barley sugar mixed with drying tannin. Raspberry and white chocolate, fresh oak, lemon, caramel, hints of minty chlorophyll, creamy vanilla and honeycomb. What an inviting nose!

Palate: Sweet and spicy, oaky. Quite a powerful arrival. Poached pear and vanilla, dark fruit, blackberry jam, bitter dark chocolate, black pepper & nutmeg, acacia honey and still a little hint of mint kicking around, which I very much enjoy!

Finish: Rather long, spicy & fruity. Drying oak spice, prunes, tannin, oak vanillin, strawberry jam and hints of blackcurrant. Warming and delicious!

With water: Less oak and more fruit on the nose (extra peach & orange) The arrival is more tame and the palate becomes sweeter & less spicy. More chewy caramel and honey. The finish loses fruit as well with more oak & barley sugar. I think I might prefer it without H2O.


Overall this is a delicious and very well made Linkwood. The Tokaji barrel really works wonders here and despite being a full term maturation, I feel the cask influence is well integrated within the spirit, leaving you wanting more!


Slàinte all!


Thanks again to George and Rachel for the sample.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[Review] Wormtub - 10 years old 56.8%

Image
  Celebrating ‘Try January’ today,  with something new from the guys at Atom brands and their Wormtub 10 year-old release. No nonsense here with a Speyside single malt aged for 10 years, finished in Sherry casks and bottled uncoloured, unchillfiltered and at the natural cask strength of 56.8% No info on the distillery apart from the fact it uses worm tub condensers and there aren’t actually that many distilleries left which use them… (personally, I'd be tempted to think Mortlach...) I cannot wait to dive in! My tasting notes: Nose: Fresh, spicy and fruity. Vanilla pods, oak spice, raisins, ginger (fresh & crystallised), orange, white peach, dark chocolate, hints of walnut, slight toffee & cinnamon, honey, jasmine tea. Slightly metallic too. Palate: Dark, chewy, rich & spicy. Liquorice, walnut, chocolate, oak, candied orange, spicy prunes, black pepper, wood polish, caramel, crystallised ginger & candied grapefruit bitterness. Finish: Walnut, bitter chocolate, dri
Read more

[Review] Bowmore - 10 years old Aston Martin partnership 40%

Image
Probably one of my favourite collaboration today, linking Islay whisky with Aston Martin. And this is courtesy of the Bowmore team, who sent me the bottle for free! I have had a mixed experience with Bowmore and I put this down to one main key factor, the presentation of the whisky. Not the box and label, but the abv and filtration. The standard bottles released at low abv (40%) have not really been that great, butI have really loved the 48%+ releases. Now this 10 year-old is part of a new Travel Retail range that Bowmore have released in conjunction with Aston Martin. You’ll find a 10, 15 and 18 year-old, The 10 years old is aged in a mix of sherry cask and bourbon casks (40%), the 15 in first-fill bourbon casks (43%) and the 18 in a mix of Oloroso and PX casks (43%). The whisky has also probably been coloured and chill-filtered. So let's get stuck in and see what this one is like... My tasting notes Nose: Sweet and smoky, dried fruit, ash, smoke, tropical notes, mango, caramel,
Read more

[Review] Glenfarclas - 21 years old 43%

Image
Before starting with today's whisky, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, hoping 2018 is full of good things for us all! I would also like to thank you for following my whisky journey on the blog as well as on my Instagram page @themaltcask. My resolution for this year is fewer bottles but more from independent bottlers and older ones if I can! So let's start the first post of the year with a slightly older whisky from a distillery I have not really reviewed on the blog: Glenfarclas and its 21 year-old single malt. Glenfarclas have got quite a following as it is one of the only distilleries in Scotland still family run. They also focus essentially on ex-Sherry casks for the maturation of their single malt and these casks are laid to rest in one of their 28 on-site warehouses.  I have tried a few Glenfarclas in the last few years, but none really struck me apart from the 15 years old which I really enjoyed. The 12 wasn't bad, the 105 was okay too but th
Read more