A Fine Christmas Malt

[Alexppp]

I haven't seen any discussion of this year's Christmas malt from The Whisky Exchange, so I thought I'd start one. Surely I can't be the only one to have been given a bottle of this for Christmas?

This year's offering is a 10 year old Linkwood drawn from ex-bourbon and sherry casks (mostly refill, judging by the colour and flavour). Perhaps it has gone under the radar because it doesn't represent a great bargain really - when Aldi are selling a 25 year old malt for £40, getting a 10 year old from a relatively unheralded distillery for around £55 is unlikely to turn heads. I can also understand why it may feel disappointing to people who had last year's Christmas Malt - a 17 year old heavily sherried whisky is indeed very 'Christmas', whereas a subtle young whisky is not. Toss in the fact that Serge compared it unfavourably with their Black Friday whisky (a 21 year-old Glenburgie that fetched 90 points, compared to the Linkwood's decent but underwhelming 83) and you can see why it hasn't even sold out yet.

Personally, I was impressed. Even aside from the fact that I'm always excited to try whisky from a distillery I'm unfamiliar with, this is seriously good stuff. One thing it's not, however, is traditionally Christmassy - as I said, this isn't a sherry and spice-forward expression. Now, I don't know what Linkwood is normally like, but this isn't a typical Speyside expression either. To me, it feels like a cross between Balblair and Clynelish - in other words, right up my street. Full of citrus fruit reminiscent of Balblair, quite waxy a la Clynelish and with a touch of sugar that reminds me of young Glencadam, I've been enjoying this very much. If anything, it is an ideal late spring or summer malt, like Glencadam and Balblair, and for that I will save most of my bottle for later.

Any other impressions of this?

P.S. William or John, sorry to add more work over the festive period, but please delete the duplicate of this post - because of including the acronym 'TWE' in the title it's a bit messed up.

[Dave h]

Can't go wrong with a Linkwood, the 15 year old from Gordon &MacPhail is not much more.

Sign of the times, 10 year old and £50+ doesn't interest me purely on price but would like to try it so will keep checking back.

[Alexppp]