Douglas Laing: Old Particular: Linkwood 21 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 21 Year: 51.5% ABV)
Visual: Pale greened grain. Very slow thin streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Noticeable alcohol. Soft lime. Vanilla. Floral. Crushed digestives. Pencil shavings. Water makes gentle and slight rocks.
Body: Smooth but warming. Cake sponge. Vanilla. Soft lime. Marzipan. Crushed peanuts. Water adds vanilla custard. More marzipan. More water adds light cherries.
Finish: Key lime pine. Vanilla. Soft caramel. Alcohol air. Lightly nutty. Marzipan. Water adds cake sponge and more nuts. More water adds cherry pocked biscuits.
Conclusion: Well, a lot more going on with this than seemed at first glance. Despite being over 50% abv, the alcohol character is not the issue that prevented me from getting into it right away. There is no burn to this, despite the alcohol being evident in the aroma and warming in the body it actual works out fairly restrained overall for this.
Initially it comes across floral with vanilla sweetness – very smooth for the abv, but nothing special in the flavor. Slowly, over time a gentle nuttiness comes out – which reminds me of my previous experience with Linkwood where it seemed like a more gentle Strathisla.
Water play adds many layers though, taking it away from that simple impression. The nuttiness merges with the sweetness to give more body to a marzipan note that was hinted at previously. More water allows cherry and digestive notes to come out that add range and more varied sweetness around the nutty character.
Gentle, smooth, works well with water and feels like a smooth Strathisla made sweeter, and very rewarding and easy to drink. Not the most complex, but complex enough for an easy going 21 year spirit.
Background: Mini whisky samples! Woo woo! These were donated to me by Independent Spirit for me to do notes on – much appreciated! Being a sample this is a smaller measure than normal, so may be slightly shorter notes that usual, not that I’m complaining. Only had one Linkwood before, I think, brought up my notes on it while trying this so I could compare. Not much else to add – put on Getter – Visceral to listen to while drinking. Nice electronic kind of chilled tunes. The only pity is the only reason I found out about the album is because of the hate and online and offline abuse the creator was getting due to it being so different to their usual work. People are scum sometimes. It is good, check it out. If you don’t like it, that is fine, but don’t send artists, or in fact anyone abuse just because their work is not to your tastes.
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