A Linkwood on the Special Release range is not a common sight, and the last time a Linkwood features on the SR was eight years ago, so this is another very interesting and uncommon OB Linkwood. The cask profile for this one is not uncommon , being a refill American oak hogshead and refill European oak butts. There were exactly 6,114 bottles of this dram made, and it’s retailing for £590 (ouch), which is more than twice the price of the excellent Mannochmore 25 I reviewed the other day (have a look here). I’ve heard favourable opinions about this one, so let’s see for ourselves, shall we?
Linkwood 37 Year Old 1978 (Special Release 2016),50.3%, £590
Nose: Well. well. what have we here: Lovely caramelised apple, Creme Brûlée , honey and a bit of unripe plantain. Yummy wood on the backdrop and a touch of honeyed melon, and ripe papaya, sweet and fruity, with the right amount of wood (but this is not a wood bomb, by any means).
Palate: Gorgeous sweet entry with vanilla ice cream, and strawberry jam ,more vanilla notes with custard and a touch of the waxy apple , old school sweets too maybe, Cardamom and a faint hint of Turkish delight (with some cardamom and oriental spices) Classy.
Finish : Dry and tannin-y with lingering touch of oak,chocolate and wax.
Conclusion : This is a very tasty dram, very classy and elegant, sweet, and lovely , with the right amount of wood (don’t be alarmed if you’re not fond of a lot of old wood notes, as this one is not big on wood), spice and sweetness, with the wood and chocolate/wax balancing it all nicely. This has to be one of the best drams in the line-up (After the Brora and Mannochmore) for me. As for VFM, it’s quite expensive, but if you compare it to other 35+ year old drams in today’s whisky pricing atmosphere (seen the Pulteney 35 year old for almost 600 quid the other day), and this being a limited and cask strength whisky – It’s not overwhelmingly pricy, but certainly beyond my means. a pity.
Sounds interesting for sure, although my experiences with the Linkwood distillery have been tarnished by a somewhat too ‘tasty’ bottling…
This was the Gordon&Macphail Linkwood 15yo (matured in refill sherry butts), which was waaay too spicy for my liking. I actually had to add a considerable amount of water to it (which I normally don’t do).
Perhaps I should try some of the Signatory bottlings, that have been aged in Bourbon barrels (although I really like sherry-matured whiskies…).
Being really curious now!
Greetings Cato
I quite like the G&M one…
cheers!
G