Sestante Collection Linlithgow 1982 Aged 23 Years

Style: Waxy Fruits, Oaky and Spicy

Rating: ☆ [Recommended]

Nose:

Powerful but a clean set of aromas on the nose. Refreshing green pine wrapping around lemon-orange citrus and candle wax. Coconut cream, overripe fruits hitting the sweet spot with spirit spices and herbal elements acting as counterbalance. Remarkable stuff, making me wonder why did this distillery have to shut down when the aroma of its spirit is so refined. Malt syrup brimming softly at the back. Nice.

Palate:

Tremoring entrance, well, it is 61.5% after all and there is no mistake to that. Crystallized lemon and orange at the front quickly followed by fresh wood shavings and coconut shreds. Clean green pine combines with the spirit spice and surges high. Beewax cascading while fruits elevate and we are heading towards a floral, soapy region. A lick of timber, heather honey quieting diffusing at the back.

Finish:

Cooked fruits boiling gently, honey oak giving a final bittersweet brace. All nice and gentle.

Thoughts:

My first review on a Linlithgow, or St. Magdalene whichever you want to call it. Intense, bittersweet, herbal and waxy notes all conjugate together in a peculiar but good way. Fragrant fruits with herbal spices powering through the expression. Maybe just a tad overoaked, but it is definitely more than interesting in terms of tasting, as I cannot think of any current distillery which has a similar profile to this. A nice, refined dram. Maybe I should give this 2 stars...

[61.5% | Independent Bottling | 1982 Distilled | 2006 Bottled | Single Cask | Cask Strength | Non Chill Filtered | Non Coloured | Bottle 61 of 257 | *+]

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