Whisky : Linkwood 27 Year 1990, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary Collection

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 50.3%

Cask : Hogshead

Age : 27 Years (Distilled 26 Nov. 1990, Bottled 14 June 2018)

Nose : Fruity floral notes of tea, berries, and dried fruit peel.  Fainter hints of butterscotch, white chocolate, and cherry cordials lingered in the background.  

Palate : Medium bodied with a nice bold flavor profile, especially for the age.  Lovely notes of herbal sweet tea as well orange blossom and honey came at first.  A mild astringency built over time along with ginger, apricot, and almond pastries.  The back end was all grass jellies, orange rinds, and herbal tea.

Finish :  Lingering herbal tea, honey, and a mild dryness.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Lemon-Honey Tea VS The Sniffles

Notes :  If I were to describe this to someone who knew little about scotch, I would tell them this was ‘smooth and friendly.’  This was by far one of the tastiest Linkwood I have ever tried and it really packed an unexpected flavor punch.  The aroma was relatively subdued, but the actual flavor profile reprised a similar set of notes at a higher volume.  This was packed full of a lot more flavor than I expected at 27 Years and I could not help by compare this to 39.180 “Smokers on a new Carpet” a SMWS Linkwood I tried last year.  That bottle was shockingly disappointing, enough so that I generally steered clear of the distillery afterwards.  This Signatory bottle has brought me back around— while I see a lot of similarities between the one I did not like and this, both had floral tea notes and a subtle astringency, this one had a lot less woody antiques and felt overall a lot more coherent.

Overall, this was exactly what you want when you are grabbing a nearly three decade old malt— bold flavors, good body, and an overarching smooth experience.  The only thing really holding this back was the finish, which was not as long as I hoped, and a flavor profile not really in line with my personal preferences.