Linkwood produces mostly for blends like Johnnie Walker and White Horse. Although there are very few official releases, independent bottlings are much more common.

This first-fill oloroso cask was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, exclusively for La Maison du Whisky. They already had a similar Linkwood 1990 in 2006. A few hundreds of bottles are available.

Linkwood 18yo 1990 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky 2009, cask #6962)

Nose: heavily sherried. Lush notes of plums and raisins. Kirsch. Some balsamic syrup. Hints of meat (tajine lamb) and soy sauce. Dark chocolate. Very exuberant, thick sherry. Mouth: quite uncommon. Starting sweet on orange marmalade, but getting more woody and very sweet & sour. Rather sharp. Very dark, bitter chocolade. Hints of sweet vinegar. Roasted nuts, even slightly tarry. Finish: long and drying, with hints of candied lemon and walnuts. Some espresso. Quite some liquorice as well.

Difficult whisky, very intense and a tad sharp. But very interesting and as sherried as whisky can get. We’re really on the edge of tasting an old (dry) oloroso here. Still available from LMdW at this moment. € 78.

Score: 86/100