Whisky: Linkwood 18 Year (2002), Hepburn's Choice for K&L

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 53.9%

Cask: Refill Hogshead

Age: 18 Years (Distilled 2002, Bottled 2021)

Nose: Citrus, buttercream, molasses, subtle ginger and clove, toasted cereals, mellow grassiness, weathered oak.

Palate: Medium-bodied, sweet citrus and confectioner’s sugar, bitter orange, buttery ghee, oaky antiques with a hint of wood polish, herbal and grassy toward the end.

Finish: Medium-length with subtle almond cookies, herbal tea, and vanilla.

Score: 5

Mental Image: “Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Ads c. 2011” — MuskOx

Narrative & Notes: The aroma spoke to carrot cake slices and early autumn meadows with mild sweet citrus, buttercream, molasses, and subtle ginger and clove spice. The carrot cake lingered even as toasted cereals and something akin to Cream of Wheat developed. A mellow grassiness appeared in the background with weathered sun-bleached oak. The palate was mellow and medium-bodied after an initial burst of sweet lemony citrus. Confectioner’s sugar and almond cookies arrived as the citrus shifted to bitter orange and buttery ghee. Oaky antiques with a hint of wood polish developed at the end with drying notes of herbal chamomile tea, vanilla, and autumn’s dried grass. The finish was medium-length, with subtle almond cookies, herbal tea, and vanilla.

Light and pleasant, this dram had strong late-summer early autumn vibes with its underlying grassiness. The flavors sat in a relatively narrow band with a nice creamy-buttery note to tie them together. The finish was perhaps on the shorter side of being medium-length and occasionally stretched out by slightly bitter oak notes. The antiques and wood polish that developed slowly on the nose and arrived at the back end of the flavor profile were the only real off-point on an otherwise coherent malt.

Overall, these late teen Linkwood often have a similar vibe and feel almost perfectly made for sipping on mindlessly at the end of the day while the stress of the world melts away just a little bit. They are not the most complex malts— that seems to take another decade or so in oak, but they are frequently well-priced and unlikely to be massively off-kilter.

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