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
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