28/07/2023 Linkwood

Linkwood (100° Proof, Gordon & MacPhail, b. ca. late 1970s): still no age statement, but 100° Proof, this time. Nose: and what difference 30° Proof make, eh? This is immediately warmer and punchier than the other miniatures we had recently, with heated cast-iron boilers, healthy lichen that takes advantage of a higher temperature to grow boldly, stacks of dust-dry pine-tree logs, and dried peach skins. Breathing time brings a timid fruitiness -- so timid that I am struggling to identify it. There is also steamed broccoli. The second nose has a fleeting, almost-perfume-y note of magnolia, and metal filings. Water brings out hot candlewax, unripe apricot, greengage, and heated Brighton Rock. Here is a note I have never used before! And I reckon I have not had Brighton Rock in forty years either, so my memory of it is perhaps incorrect, yet that is what I am reminded of. Sadly, Brighton Rockstar WhiskyLovingPianist is not here to confirm. Mouth: it is punchy alright, though a silky texture soon makes one lose one's bearings. Unexpected. Nevertheless, out of that confusion, cast iron and bitter lichen rise, mostly smothering a tentative fruity side. At this point, it is probably unripe apricot, yet it is so faint it is hard to be certain. The second sip grows bitterer, firmly focused on hot, coarse metal, and crushed bay leaves. It drowns with water, surprisingly. Even the tiny amount I added makes this little more than flavoured water. Menthol and unripe nectarines, perhaps. The texture remains as pleasantly silky. Finish: big, bold, we find grey-ink-covered cast iron, military dark-green paint, dry-brushed on boiler plates, and the most minute drop of peach juice sprayed onto it. It does not evolve dramatically upon repeated sipping, yet it turns a tad dustier. A minute or so after swallowing, gravel appears. Water opens up the finish, remarkably releasing peach and nectarine slices, a lick of sugar glazing on a sage doughnut, and shiny metal that comes much closer to the steel of a blade, or the tin of a can than the earlier cast iron. This is very good, if not overly complex. It is a bit closed neat, and very different with water. 8/10

And if you think it looks like the Mortlach from the other day, it is because it does.
Gordon & MacPhail also used the same eagle for Talisker bottlings