Souvenir from Limburg. There is not much left in the sample, but hopefully we can get an idea nevertheless.
Linlithgow 30yo 1973/2004 (59.6%, OB, 1500b): nose: there is an immediacy that comes with a Maggie, something that promises a good time. This is no different. Fields of barley in the summer, after the harvest, roasted cereals and a puff of thin smoke. That smoke turns to light cigarettes (best guess is hand-rolled Virginia tobacco) and limoncello, would you believe it? Indeed, behind the oily, warming tobacco is this crisp, fresh fruitiness that acts as a counterbalance. True to its provenance, the nose brings forth delicate mineral notes too -- flint, granite, or a bowl made of polished black marble. A bowl? Nay! A holy-water font that would have been cleaned recently with lemon juice. The second nose sees a plastic planter in a greenhouse, filled with soil, though not a single flower yet. Mouth: ooft! Powerful, of course (the ABV!), but precise, focussed as a neurosurgeon (one hopes, at least!). Here are, in order of appearance: chewy sweets, quarry chippings, droplets of lemon juice, and, upon chewing once (just once, mind), a cloud of smoke. Chew more and it is all sorts of sweets that show up, chiefly the chewy kind, red and yellow (Rhubarb & Custard). Surprisingly, that is all that seems to remain, after a while, those sweets, although they are supplemented by purple cough drops. That might simply be the infinitesimal quantity that is to blame. It becomes darker and earthier with time -- not liquorice, but berries, certainly. Blackcurrant drops, if not blackcurrant-flavoured Lemsip. The second sip is more-openly flirting with purple cough drops, possibly coming too close to chewy violet sweets for some. For tOMoH, it is simply magnificent. Finish: we pick up more traditional St Magdalene notes, here, with a serving of stones, a spoonful of soot, a bunch of (unidentified) dried flowers, and the same cough drops we had on the tongue (blackcurrants again). It sports a non-negligible bitterness, yet that is hardly a turn-off. The second gulp is perhaps earthier; dry peat with lots of tangled heather roots, and a few berries or currants, squashed. The berries shine brightest at the death, supported as they ae by a thin layer of melted milk chocolate. Gorgeous dram. 9/10 (Thanks for the sample, GN)
Hard not to remember how cavalier66 painfully claimed this here Linlithgow was the worst thing he drank at Whisky Show Old & Rare 2018. The above note is confirmation that he knows nothing on the subject a reflection of the quality of those other things he tried that weekend that were even better to his taste.
Happy birthday, Bishlouk!
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