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?

Talisker 1979 Cadenhead's Sherrywood [Road to #1000, Review #984]

Hi everyone,

Earlier in the year, in California, I had the pleasure of meeting some great whisky people that work for JVS distribution and share some whiskies.

Actually, a few of these Road to #1000 whiskies are from them, starting with this Talisker that Elijah very kindly brought to a tasting for me to try.

Now I’ve always wanted to try an old indie Talisker, especially from a Sherry cask but I was warned that this whisky was vile and undrinkable by someone else, while Elijah himself was a little more optimistic.

Talisker 1979 Cadenhead’s 60.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Dirty, sulphurous and vegetal, damp wood, wet and damp walls, damp mouldy concrete, burnt heather and match sticks. Big sour balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinaigrette and spiced orange. Love the nose, despite the obvious sulphur.

Taste: Dry, weirdly wine-y, raspberry syrup, oak and smoke and then more sweet with orange. The weird notes are hard to ignore here, the sulphur having a pronounced effect.

Finish: Medium length. Sweet and kinda flat, dry, orange and a little black pepper.

Bottled at 18yo. Not exactly a balanced style of whisky and people will absolutely hate it, particularly if they are sensitive to sulphur. Cool nose that the taste doesn't really go with.

73/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #826

Whisky Network Review #984

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 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?

Paul John Chirstmas Edition 2019 & 7 Cadenhead's Reviews

Hi everyone,

I seem to taste a lot more Paul John than Amrut for whatever reason.

I’ve found that I prefer the core expressions from Amrut but the really good whiskies from Paul John are stunning and have outdone Amrut for the moment.

Here’s two new ones, one official and one independent.

Paul John Christmas Edition 2019 46%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Sweet orange and dark raisin, sweet & sour Chinese sauce?, brandy and Christmas cake, orange chewing gum and dry oak, none of the smoke I got on the last one.

Taste: Sweet and v soft arrival, lacking some power, then chewy orange, grape juice, quite dry, some oak, lots of dark chocolate coming in with dry spice, cinnamon,.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Chocolate orange, oily oak, a little out of balance here.

Finished in PX Sherry casks (whereas last year’s was Oloroso) with a small proportion of peated malt (which I didn't really get). Don’t think this is out yet but will be shortly. Last years seemed more peaty and a touch better. Its close though and both are good. This should be around £50. Thanks to PJ's Craig for the sample.

75/100

Paul John 7 Cadenhead’s 55.4%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Creamy and buttery nose, dry sauna wood, corn on the cob, some basil, white pepper, a little smoky actually with a small ash note, eucalyptus. With a bit of coaxing there’s more fruit with delicious dried apricot, vanilla and exotic spices. Interesting and complex nose.

Taste: Soft and oily, fantastic arrival just on the oils, great mouthfeel, nice development with vanilla cream, butter, plenty of dry wood coming in, white pepper, dried mango and some turmeric.

Finish: Medium length. Ginger and white pepper, dry wood again, a tiny hint of cherry maybe, orange perhaps. A little too dry here but I’m nitpicking.

Released 2019, I suspect matured in Scotland for 2 years. Best Indian whisky I’ve had so far. A small step up from the German exclusive single cask I tried a while back. Big, dry whiskies both but there’s an excellent dried fruitiness (mango especially) to this that I love.

86/100

Updated Distillery Rankings

Indian Reviews #12-#13

Whisky Network Reviews #955-#956

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 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?

Ledaigathon: 1994 G&M, 20 Cadenhead's, SMWS 42.22 & 42.21, 2008 Archives Reviews

Hi everyone,

A while back, um, at the beginning of May, I was in Canada for work and was able to meet up with the wonderful people of the Toronto whisky society. What follows are reviews that are their fault.

Knowing that I loved Ledaig, they’d secured as many as they could and greeting me on the table were a row of them. Of course, I felt obliged to review them (Its a hard life sometimes), although I didn’t get to them all because I wanted to try other stuff too.

Thanks to everyone for an amazing night!

Ledaig 1994 Gordon & MacPhail 53.9%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Ah yes, clearly not Ledaig just as we expected after the other 1994 G&M. Clean with ozone, salt, green apple and a little cheese, some seaweed, light on the complexity.

Taste: Soft then spicy, ginger and black pepper, salt coming in, dried seaweed, losing power into the finish.

Finish: Short length. Lacking power here, very soft salt, ill fitting dry oak. Doesn't really work.

Bottled 2012. Mislabelled Tobermory again. The second time I've had this from G&M which makes me distrust all early 90's Ledaig.

71/100

 

Ledaig 1997 Cadenhead's 52.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Lovely complexity of lemon, aged smoke, epically oily, buttery but also salt crusted sailing ropes, leather and a little green grape.

Taste: So so oily, salt and smoke building up, spicy black pepper, white pepper, great leather and chocolate coming in.

Finish: Long length. Power, white pepper, mineral smoke, a white wine thing going on which is cool.

Gold label, 20yo. Very similar to the 19yo that I have a bottle of, but I prefer that one by a point I think.

85/100

 

Ledaig 2006 42.22 SMWS 59.3%

Colour: Straw

Body: Full

Nose: Very clean nose, a little abv, pure salt and white pepper, lemon juice, not a huge amount there but very pure and clean.

Taste: Soft, then a great balance of pure salt and white pepper, lemon juice and stem ginger. Again, compelxity isn't massive but the balance and purity is super impressive.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Salty and spicy, stem ginger and white pepper.

9yo.

78/100

 

Ledaig 2006 42.21 SMWS 59.4%

Colour: Light Straw

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Even cleaner and lighter... As in water. A tiny bit of green apple, a tiny bit of salt, Tequila.

Taste: Soft arrival, great saltiness, great balance again with the smoke, minerality, raw ginger and white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Clean again, a little ginger and white pepper left.

I prefer the nose on this actually than the 42.22, but the taste isn't as good.

77/100

 

Ledaig 2008 Archives 60.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Dirty AF, burnt bacon, creamy vanilla, not a huge amount of smoke but a great balance, white german sausage, smoked sausage. Lots of sausage. Very savoury nose.

Taste: Clean arrival, great balance, salty, the Sherry comes through with dirty raisin, unami, bacon, so oily, mouthfeel for days.

Finish: Medium length. Creamy, sweet raisin and more overt peat.

Bottled 2016 I think, from a Sherry cask. Fan-fucking-tastic young Ledaig. Love it. Should have bought one when I had the chance.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #779-#783

Whisky Network Reviews #924-#928

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?

3x older Ledaig's: 1993, 1994 & 1997 Reviews

Hi everyone,

The heavily peated Ledaig wasn’t officially re-produced until 1996, meaning that there isn’t a huge amount of the older stuff out there.

What there is is sometimes mislabelled Tobermory, and at other times, only lightly peated. Here’s a few today that I’ve tasted recently.

Ledaig 1993 Wilson & Morgan 51%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: The smoke has had time to oxidise giving it more fruit- More like a Talisker really, red apple, black pepper, sea salt, some orange, smoke backing it all, nicely balanced. More funky with time, some cheddar cheese, something slightly savoury.

Taste: Sharp and sour start, acidic red apple and spiky oak, green and black peppercorns, again quite Talisker-like, quite spicy, maritime smoke and sea salt and lemon.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Power gone completely, a little red apple, dry oak and spice left. Bit of a disappointing finish.

Bottled 2018 at 25yo. A Ledaig in my year! Could easily be an old Talisker. Great nose but it gets more and more tired as the taste goes on.

74/100

 

Ledaig 1994 Gordon & Macphail 47.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Lemon, grapefruit and sea salt, ozone, a little light cherry and some light cheese lurking in the background, rock pools and sea wind, gives a sense of open space.

Taste: A little weak to start, salt and lemon, grapefruit and cherry, then it gets going with dirty soot and orange, very oily, funk-mozzarella?, green olives and brine.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Fades quite quickly with some salted chocolate, black pepper and green olives.

Bottled 2017 as an exclusive for Germany. Unpeated Ledaig the rep told me... Soooo NOT Ledaig then?

75/100

Ledaig 1997 Cadenhead's 53.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Salinity at first nosing. Sea salt, coastal with a far off beach bonfire, oysters, grilled prawns and green olive. Also leather and classy oak, chocolate powder. A little more chocolatey over time with milk chocolate and praline. Very nice and really interesting nose. Not full of the usual Ledaig powerful smoke, but more restrained.

Water: Fresher, more coastal, oily and a little fresh rubber. Pencil eraser. Not such a fan of this style, preferred it neat.

Taste: Citrus arrival, lemon and then a wonderful transition into a more active development. More of that citrus, lemon, orange and lime juice all mixed together, some smoke but more complex coastal flavours coming through. A little green olive, sea salt, salt rimmed margarita. Oily.

Water: Softer and less citric, less acidity, builds slowly with some lemon, earthy notes, some vanilla, leather, then more and more salty with that salt rimmed margarita.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oily citrus juice continues then more gristy malt and leathery smoke.

Aged 19 years, from a Bourbon hogshead. Better neat IMO. So glad I bought a bottle of this when I spied it in the Netherlands.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #740-#742

Whisky Network Reviews #878-#880

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?

Old Pulteney 12 Cadenhead's Small Batch Review

Hi everyone,

Have you ever wondered what an indie Old Pulteney would taste like?

I have. But never had an opportunity to because there ain’t much of the stuff. Only Gordon & Macpahil and Cadenhead’s seem to have any, and even then its only a little. So I was lucky enough to try this during a recent trip to the Netherlands.

 

Old Pulteney 12 Cadenheads Small Batch 55.8%

Colour: Straw

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Very buttery for OP. Ethanol, dough, lemon, some subtle sea salt and banana, whipped cream, some malt too.

Taste: Soft and very buttery, creamy mouthfeel then drier with oak, banana, dried banana and whipped cream. Banana split-like actually!

Finish: Medium/Long length. Creamy and buttery, a little grape, lemon peel.

Proper natural spirit-driven OP.

75/100

Distillery: Old Pulteney

Average Score: 73.6

Distillery Ranking: 36th/ 61 places

Up/Down: No Movement

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #628

Whisky Network Review #746

Network Average: 74.9

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?

Glen Scotia 16 & 2000 Sherry Cadenhead's Reviews

Hi everyone,

There’s a distillery I’ve been neglecting to review that is showing a lot of promise recently: Glen Scotia.

This gem has perhaps been overlooked, partly because it hasn’t received much love ownership-wise, partly because it had a variable reputation over the last decade or so. But they seem to be doing a lot better now, with Ralfy and others very much liking the new 15yo.

I’ve had a chance to try two recently, so here they are. First up an official 16yo for the airports and another 16yo single cask from the cask wizards Cadenhead’s.

Glen Scotia 16 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Malty, slightly dirty orange, flour and pastry, vanilla, a little funky, dry oak in there, even a touch of soot.

Taste: Malty with some cinnamon spice, spicy theme continues with sweetness behind, slightly floral, orange, ginger, quite peppery with black pepper. A bit harsh if drunk quickly.

Finish: Long length. More sour here, with some pastry notes and black pepper continuing.

Travel retail exclusive, which normally is slang for rubbish whisky. Not so much here though, the higher strength is really helping this. The funky style more reminiscent of Springbank on the nose.

74/100

 

Glen Scotia 2000 Sherry Cadenhead's 57.8%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Austere, mineral and interestingly feinty, some bakery notes, some yeast, dirty orange, maybe a little strawberry. Interesting funk as it opens up.

Taste: Very soft for abv, rich sweetness builds, lovely dirty orange, some sulphur then spice and oak, black pepper, some cinnamon, grassy and mineral into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Softer again and more austere, some dried fig and lasting dry pepper.

2000-2016 at 16yo from a Sherry cask. Great whisky, great cask. Softer and less spicy with water but not as good. If you’re very sensitive to sulphur, you may not enjoy it as much as me though. For me, it really adds something here. This really reveals how much potential this distillery has and has made me a firm believer in great quality Glen Scotia. Very tempted by some of the older Sherry cask ones now, as if I need more whisky to be tempted by!

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #564-#565

Whisky Network Reviews #669-#670

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

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 am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?