Origin: Lowlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 49.4%ABV
Ageing cask: New, ex-Bourbon and ex-Wine
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Lindores Abbey Distillery
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: lindoresabbeydistillery.com
As is well known, Lindores is linked to the history of Scotch whisky and its origins, traced back to the abbey next to which the distillery was born in 2017, and narrative has it that founders Drew and Helen McKenzie Smith had gone a year earlier to Thiron-Gardais, a small French village where the monks who founded the religious site came from, and discovered the quality of the local oak.
Hence the idea for this yearly series, matured in new casks made from those woods in addition to renovated red wine and ex-bourbon casks, which debuted with this bottling in September 2024.
There are also single cask versions made for different countries.
Tasting Notes
Malt and yeast in the first approach to the nose, between new make and new cask influences, with a balsamic and mentholated thread running through pear juice, green apple, gooseberry, yoghurt plum cake, almond paste. Secondly, softer notes of acacia honey, vanilla, peach, candied orange peel, butter biscuits, delicate cinnamon and slight floral notes. The butteriness is accentuated over time, where a mineral and oxidised note also appears. Young and fragrant.
The palate begins with a spicy compartment that is present but not invasive, of black pepper (lots of it), cardamom and cinnamon, framing a rather rich fruit bouquet, between fresh (peach, apple, pineapple, pear, mango, pink grapefruit, blond orange, banana) and processed (banana gumdrops, candied orange peel), still with a balsamic vein clearly evident. Full-bodied, the pastry compartment (lemon curd, vanilla, brown sugar, marzipan) and the vegetable compartment, between cereals and cut grass, stand out. Hint of liquorice root.
Quite long and peppery finish, of fruit, vegetable notes, vanilla and nuts.
The palette of aromas and flavours is rich and persistent, perhaps a little too much so with obvious imbalances between the influence of the casks and the soul of the distillate. Sins of youth that promise to smooth out over time, a path that nevertheless proves interesting.
Vote: 84/100