Review No.186. Linkwood 15 Gordon & Macphail

I tried a dram of the Gordon & Macphail Linkwood 15 year old at a bar and found it to be very malty but also characterful with fresh notes of fruits surrounding it.  I enjoyed it so much that I put it on my list of bottles to purchase.  This is bottled by independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail (G&M) who are one of the original indie bottles and have more recently purchased Benromach so are distilling too.  G&M buy malts direct from distilleries and mature them further to their liking.  So they don’t just purchase and bottle malts, they add their own twist.  I am starting to explore indie bottles and there are a many of them out there but I have found the G&M range the easiest to navigate and have a range for any budget.  This Linkwood 15 is from their distillery labels range which offers them first pick of the malts on offer from distilleries they have close relationships with.  I am not sure what the difference is between the Flora & Fauna Linkwood 12 and this, apart from the extra 3 years of maturation.  There is not much information on the bottle.  I would guess that G&M have matured this in ex sherry casks for the final few years but I can’t be certain.

Whisky: Linkwood 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (G&M), 43%

Nose: 

Taste: 

Finish: 

Score:

Summary: 

Scoring scale: My scores reflect a balance of the overall experience, availability and cost for a whisky,

1 – not to my preference

2 – tastes fine but does not excite me

3 – more to my liking and would revisit occasionally

4 – very much to my liking and would consider as a regular feature on my whisky shelf

5 – permanent feature on my whisky shelf

Image source: www.thewhiskyexchange.com