Linlithgow (Aka St Magdalene): Silent Stills: 22 Year (Scottish Lowland Single Malt Whisky: 22 Year: 51.7% ABV)
Visual: Pale Gold. Slow but thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Clean. Soft lime. Light alcohol tingle. Barley. Light honey. Crusty white bread. Soft vanilla. Water adds toffee and fudge. More honey. Apple.
Body: Clean and smooth. Soft lime. Slight alcohol if held. Rice. Peppery. Water adds cake sponge, honey and more alcohol notes. Apples. More water again adds apricot.
Finish: Rice. Slight charred oak. Vanilla. Slightly spritzy and peppery. Babycham. Water adds honey, custard and slight sulfur. Dry rice.
Conclusion: Ok, drunk neat this is, well, very simple. Smooth, with only a touch of alcohol despite the high abv. It is clean, but also kind of empty. Some light sweet notes are there, and a light lime but that is against a kind of rice to cereal backing that gives little over a generic kind of spritzy feel. Not a good start.
Water, surprisingly, makes it more robust and sweet in a way that actually reminds me of Highland whisky rather than its lowland home. Lots of honey notes now, some fudge and a cake sponge solid body. More weighty and rounded, though still with a kind of dry rice unpleasantness in the finish. Also the robustness has also seemed to bring more of the alcohol that previously had been locked away inside. So, a tad more alcohol burn but generally a lot more interesting.
So, slightly rough edged in flavours, if not in mouthfeel, but now soft green fruit comes out over big sweetness in a generally smooth (apart from that finish) dram. More water helps fine a nice balance, clearing the rough edges and giving a getle sweet and lightly fruity dram. That is several fucking hundred quid a 70cl bottle.
It is an ok dram, smooth, gentle, and reasonable flavor – but no better than say, an entry level Macallan or similar. Interesting to try, but seriously don’t go out of your way to try it unless you are either rich, or an obsessive taster like me.
Background; This was intended as my 400th whisky tasting note, until I hit that total at an Uber Whisky Tasting night. So this is now my second 400th tasting. I can do that. This is a rare one – from the dead St Magdalene distillery – aka Linlithgow. Seems different expressions were put out under different names. Anyway, a lowland distillery – not many of them around any more and they tend to be lighter and smoother so should be a bit different. I saw this mini at The Whisky Exchange a long time back and grabbed it as the chance to try these dead distilleries are not one I pass up if I can, and I just cannot afford the full 70cl bottles most of the time. Wanted some not intrusive background music so put on some Taiko drumming, used to listen to this regularly, lovely encompassing rhythmic sounds that let me really get into the whisky.
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