Rest & Be Thankful Linkwood 1997 Aged 18 Years

Style: Sweet and Spicy

Rating: ☆- [Recommended]

Nose:

Vibrant spice escorting a beautiful combination of white oak fragrance and pink peaches into the fray. Caramel sauce applied on top while summer fruits purring softly down one level. Blueberries with a dash of white vinegar, confectionaries and gummies. More glazed fruits stewing at the core, another layer of oak and white pepper regulating the sweetness deftly. Walnuts, peanut butter and even some rancio balanced by subtle lily fragrance.

Palate:

More malt and caramel-driven on the palate. Malt cake carrying a touch of acrylic and sunflower seed orgeat. Pineapple chunks opening up, tropical fruit salad flashes then followed by ample cinnamon dust and coconut shreds which sets in quickly to give a drying effect. Nutmeg-dusted vanilla bean ice-cream flanked by hazelnuts and roasted cashews towards the back. Red chillies to finish.

Finish:

Barley in an increasingly naked form, coffee beans with another smidge of vanilla cream, bitter oak cloaking over hidden sweet yellow fruits.

Thoughts:

Linkwood has been a unique presence for many, blenders and hardcore drinkers alike, but I feel sometimes it can be quite tricky to get a Linkwood single cask thoroughly balanced and consistent - spice tamed, oak controlled and distillate able to amalgamate smoothly with other elements. Personally I don’t mind it being rough around the edges, as long as it gives a pretty good depth and complexity in return. Now this cask has done pretty well in that sense, probably slightly advanced, but it is a decent pick.

[53.1% | Independent Bottling | 1997 Distilled | 2015 Bottled | Single Cask | Cask Strength | Cask Number: 10195 | 244 of 270 Bottles | Non Chill Filtered | Non Coloured | Bourbon Cask | *-]

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