Linkwood looking for roses

March 26, 2015

Linkwood looking for roses
(higgledy-piggledy)

Many moons ago, the first time I tried Linkwood, I had read in Michael Jackson’s Companion that I had to expect notes of roses in the nose. And since back then, I can’t help keeping looking for them… We’re not always superior animals, are we?

Linkwood 1995/2014 'Honeysuckle Bower' (46%, Wemyss Malts, hogshead, 332 bottles)

Colour: straw. Nose: boo, no roses, rather plenty of barley sugar and water, plus apples, some marzipan, orange squash (even Fanta) and more and more lemonade. Indeed, there’s a kind of fizziness, and yet I can’t spot any very tiny bubbles. That’s fun and certainly fresh. Also a touch of mint. Another readymade Scottish mojito? Mouth: it’s a rather excellent fruity Speysider, full of ripe apples, oranges, and again, barley sugar. Funnily enough, that fizziness is still there as well, but that’s more on the peppery side. Notes of liquorice allsorts. Finish: quite long, with some sweet and bitter ales. Comments: if I write ‘goody good’, will that be enough? SGP:551 - 83 points.

Linkwood 24 yo 1990/2014 (51.7%, The Whisky Barrel, Burn's Malt, hogshead, cask #3540)

Colour: pale gold. Nose: a rather similar profile, quite unsurprisingly, but there isn’t any fizziness this time, and rather more fudge and toffee. Warm tarte tatin straight from the bakery, some marmalade, toasts, butterscotch… A breakfast malt? Nice nose nonetheless. With water: some kind of pan-fried cereals plus maple syrup and light fudge. Mouth (neat): excellent arrival, rich and honeyed, with a touch of liquorice wood and a huge maltiness. Rather stout than ale after that, slightly burnt caramel… or rather hot caramel-covered apple pie. Right, tarte tatin. With water: a malted Mars bar. Do you know what the Scots do to Mars bars? Finish: good length, malty, caramelly, with more stewed fruits. Orange salad. Comments: refill sherry hogshead? This one’s much to my liking. SGP:651 - 86 points.

Let’s go plunder the ‘older sample library’…

Linkwood 17 yo 1987 (57.3%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #39.51, 'Orchids, vanilla and cream', 316 bottles, +/-2004)

No pictures. But orchids? Where are my roses?... Colour: pale gold. Nose: well, indeed this is more floral than the others. It’s more mineral as well, which gives it a flinty side. And there’s a lot of raw malted barley again. And oranges. Maybe a little soap as well, but maybe is that the high strength, let’s see. With water: orangeade and barley water. It’s rather fresh. A pack of orange drops. Mouth (neat): rather strange… Fizzy orange juice (so we’re close to the Wemyss in that respect) plus some kind of lavender-flavoured liquorice. Or rather violet. We had such a thing in France, that was called ‘Zan à la violette’. With water: ham? Really bizarre… And bitter oranges. Not too sure this baby takes water very well. Finish: some kind of gin and orange. Cinchona in the aftertaste. Comments: not too sure about that one. It would appear that I missed the orchids. SGP:461 - 76 points.

Linkwood 10 yo 1984/1995 (59.2%, Wilson & Morgan, Barrel Selection, 327 bottles)

Colour: full gold. Nose: starts very malty, with these Mars bars again, but then there’s more leafy/tea-ish notes, as well as a lovely earthiness. A feeling of strong mocha, I’d say. Ristretto of course. With water: great whiffs of powdered porcinis and humus. We’re in a forest after a heavy shower. Mouth (neat): very rich and creamy mouth feel. Maple syrup, triple-sec, chocolate and cappuccino, then some orange squash just like in some of the others. Barley sugar. With water: we’re back in the forest. Pinesap, more mushrooms, a touch of liquorice and earth… And raisins. Dried apricots. Finish: long, malty, chocolaty, with light dried fruits in the aftertaste. Those apricots. Comments: I like this one a lot. Great selection by Fabio and gang. My god, 20 years… SGP:561 - 87 points.

Linkwood 15 yo (70° proof, Gordon & MacPhail, licensed bottling, rotation 1969)

The buyer wrote the year when he bought this bottle on its label. Always handy. Colour: dark amber. Nose: instant OBE, and a great one. The lower strength doesn’t feel at all, while lovely notes of mead, soy sauce, menthol and old Rivesaltes will give you a delicate feeling of old rancio. There’s also a little strawberry jam, as well as ‘old coins’. Mouth: my, but this is big! Perfect buttered fudge, salted caramel, fig cake, perhaps a little umami, parsley, oxtail, Alsatian marrow soup (excuse me, you say you never tried that?)… It’s extremely tertiary, there are myriads of tiny flavours, pipe tobacco, soups, bouillons, old liqueurs… And all that. Plus, perhaps and indeed, rose-flavoured Turkish delights. Finish: quite long, impressively fresh. Oranges, jams, tobaccos, herbal teas, spices, herbs… Comments: not a surprise at all, these old Linkwoods by G&M have always been wonderful. Those, are the whiskies one should hunt these days, they’re never too expensive. But careful, I’ve already come across wrecked bottles. Always check the levels! Or buy two, one will be great, the other will be dead(ish). SGP:562 - 90 points.

Linkwood 1992/2005 (43%, Jean Boyer, Best Casks of Scotland, refill sherry)

This baby by one of our beloved French bottlers. There aren’t many… It’s going to be very tough after the old G&M. Colour: light amber. Nose: not that tough, even if we’re back on more ‘regular’ fudgy/malty notes. Plenty of maple syrup-covered cornflakes, corn syrup, coffee toffee, raisins, apple pie… And Ovaltine/Ovomaltine. Mouth: I find this very drinkable, we’re not too far from some older Macallan 12 yo. Coffee, fruitcake, toffee, marmalade, roasted nuts, roasted peanuts, raisins… And all that. Ultra-classic middle-aged sherried Speysider. A little Aberlourish at times. Finish: rather long, the low strength doesn’t feel at all. Very toffee-ish. Marmalade in the aftertaste, as often. Comments: you just had toffee. Again, ultra-classic. SGP:551 - 85 points.

The problem with all this sherry is that it’s hard to ‘get’ the distillate. Let’s try to find a naked monster and see what gives. After so-so honeysuckle and orchids, shall we find those roses?...

Linkwood 11 yo 1984 (60.5%, James MacArthur, 500 years of Scotch Whisky, +/-1995)

It’s a little complicated. On the one hand, this is an 11 yo distilled in 1984, so bottled in either 1995 or 1996. On the other hand, it was meant to celebrate 500 years of Scotch, which happened in 1994. Something doesn’t click too well here, but after twenty years, seriously, who cares? Colour: pale white wine. Nose: naked, as expected! Arthur at James MacArthur seems to like these totally distillate-driven whiskies, and frankly, how could we be against that? What’s really amazing is that beyond the brutality and the roughness of this malt, there, I do find roses. Seriously, roses. Haleluja! But there’s also quite some dust, flour, gravel, cut cactus, wet concrete… So it’s not the fullest nose ever, but let’s go on… With water: damp papers in the basement. Mouth (neat): old style weirdness. In the old days, the indies used to bottle just any cask, provided it was ‘single malt’. So you had utter glories, and whacky ones as well. I’m afraid this one’s rather a whacky one, with a huge chalky side, notes of plastic, notes of the odd drinks the Coca-Cola Company makes out of lemons that were perfectly alright, and, well, more chalk. Now you could always intellectualise these whiskies, but frankly… With water: chalk in lemon and grass juice. Finish: same. Very grassy spirit. Comments: we found roses. The rest was rather dispensable. SGP:261 - 65 points.

Check the index of all Linkwood I've tasted so far