Although Cardhu is one of the most popular brands in France and Spain, there’s not much interest from connoisseurs. Part of this is due to the controversy about the ‘pure malt’ name on Cardhu bottles around 8 years ago. Cardhu was mixed with whisky from other distilleries to meet the high demand. Most single malt fans saw this as an effort to mislead whisky drinkers and sell a vatted malt as a single malt.

Anyway, the slightly compromised fame didn’t keep LT from selecting this bottle at his birthday tasting. This Cardhu 12 Years old was bottled for the Italian market before 1974.

Cardhu 12 yo (43%, OB 1970’s, Wax & Vitale, white rounded label, cork stop)

Nose: very smooth and gentle. The malty centre is mixed with some caramel sweetness, a touch of honey, apricots and quite some citrus. A few floral elements. Hints of paint thinner (I personally love that). Marzipan. Very nice. Mouth: oily / waxy texture. Again rather malty with lots of sweet grains and hints of roasted nuts. Very light smoke. A bit of toffee. Grapefruit. Almonds. Not extremely complex but very pleasant.  Finish: first sweet, then drying with hints of peat.

A very good Cardhu which shows that old standard bottlings tend to be a lot better than current ones. Occasionally it shows up at auctions – prices vary from € 100 to 150.

Score: 87/100