Linkwood 1987 Cadenhead's (Blind) Review

Hi everyone,

Another blind review today.

As I’ve mentioned, I knew that one of these three samples was a 1987 Linkwood but I wouldn’t have ever guessed that it would taste like this! But then such is the nature of blind tasting. You can be surprised.

If someone had told me that this whisky was Tobermory, Glen Scotia, Port Charlotte or Longrow/Springbank I would believe them but Linkwood? No way.

Coniunctum Lignum

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Woa-ho-ho!! Weird! Serious levels of funk, like nothing I've ever had, smoked cheese being BBQ'd? Very odd fruitiness like lime flesh maybe, maybe there's some raisin but they've been soaked in some weird alcohol, cheap brandy perhaps, plastic sheets.

Taste: Sharp and intense arrival, plastic sheets, lime juice and burning film cannisters? Who knows? Raisin and a little sherry perhaps. Quite spicy now, with intense raw pepper and ginger.

Finish: Long length. Spice appears as well as oak, a little lime and raisin lasting too.

What the hell was this? Very strange and intense whisky. I'm guessing there's peat and sherry involved but no idea as to the distillery or even region. Despite the weirdness, again I quite like it, though it isn't exactly balanced.

Guess: 20yo+ Sherried Tobermory? Though perhaps more realistically, this is likely the Linkwood.

Reveal: Linkwood 1987 Cadenhead's 58.4% Small Batch from two Sherry casks, bottled at 28yo. Such a strange one. It does settle down given some time but I still get these very funky and smoky notes from it.

73/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #840

Whisky Network Review #1009

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Port Ellen 1982 Wilson & Morgan [Road to #1000, Review #991]

Hi everyone,

If you’ve had a look at my Distillery Rankings page, you might have noticed something that wouldn’t surprise you; that Port Ellen and Brora hold the top spots… BY 5 WHOLE POINTS.

This probably wouldn’t surprise you because we all know that the whisky is old, expensive, hyped, etc.

But I’ve been thinking about this lately: why do I rate these whiskies so highly? Is it just because of my expectations? Would I rate the whisky the same if I tasted it blind?

I guess partially it also comes down to taste. Generally, I seem to prefer older whiskies with a huge amount of complexity that aren’t over-oaked. There really aren’t that many expressions of younger Brora or Port Ellen that we can get hold of, so it makes it hard to try (though Diageo are building the distilleries anew, so we may well do in a few years time). And these days, it is almost exclusively bottled at cask strength, which I also prefer. I like peaty whisky, again, old peated whisky being one of my favourites because as the smoke mellows you get more complexity coming out while still keeping spirit character and power.

Equally, I’m sure that there are very mediocre versions of both Port Ellen and Brora out there, I just haven’t tried many yet. I’m told that there are some disastrous PE’s from Sherry casks.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s another PE:

Port Ellen 1982 Wilson & Morgan 60%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Sweet, fruity, smoky, salty and oily. Salted fish, golden raisin, leather and cigar, sea air and salt, great clean lemon, sugared almonds, marzipan, dark chocolate and espresso, liquorice. Lovely nose.

Water: Quite different now, less smoke and cleaner. With more water you get more fruit- lemon, red apple and black pepper.

Taste: Incredible, flawless arrival, oils coating, spot on mouthfeel, then full power peat and minerals (almost Kilchoman-like!) then recedes into sweeter fruitiness, lemon. Really is amazing how powerful and peaty this is after 28 years.

Water: Very clean arrival, amazing development on a great balance of red apple fruit and oily smoke.

Finish: Long length. Awesome and oily, saltiness staying, lovely lemon citrus. Quite simple but, equally, it’s also quite stunning.

Bottled 2011 at 28yo from a Sherry cask. A pretty perfect beast of a whisky. Not massively complex but doesn't need to be. Another one for the 90 Club! And another incredible example of Port Ellen too. I could imagine Kilchoman tasting like this in 20 something years time actually.

90/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #829

Whisky Network Review #991

Network Average: 75.2

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Secret Distillery #1 28yo TBWC Review

Hi everyone,

sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Always good to see whisky that definitely isn’t Glenfarclas being released by the indies that wouldn’t be allowed to call it Glenfarlcas even if this was Glenfarclas, which, to be clear, it definitely is not…

 

Secret Distillery #1 28 TBWC 50%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Complex orange, Seville, peel and perfumed. Complex spices and great oak, antique leather and old furniture and furniture polish. Develops delicious strawberry and liquorice and black pepper combo. Over time there's more dried cherry and dark chocolate.

Taste: Sweet and rich, orange and chocolate and lots of dry oak, Old Balvenie territory, leather and antique furniture and polish for said furniture. Perfect really. Cherry dark chocolate. Quite dry. Gorgeous development.

Finish: Long length. Emotional, sweeter here, epic, maple syrup, so bloody good.

Clap clap clap clap

One of those definite buys for me, but sadly the budget did not allow. About £150 for the 50cl bottle. Its all gone now anyway. Not often I find something this good from new releases that aren’t extortionately priced. Now, if the distillery name was the on the bottle maybe it would have been more expensive.

90/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #696

Whisky Network Review #832

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?