Tonight I have a tasting theme of utmost seriousness, requiring the fullness of attention and discernment: a blind tasting challenge!
I happen to have samples from three of my favourite distilleries: Linkwood, Glen Elgin and Deanston. All three are 13 years old, 52-56% abv, and of a comparable colour that suggests all are ex-bourbon casks. (I don’t actually know the cask type before trying since these samples come from single casks that were each solely bottled for the Single Malts of Scotland advent calendar with no info online.)
Linkwood 13yo 2008 55.4% “Cask #804632” Elixir Distillers
Glen Elgin 13yo 2008 52.4% “Cask #803873” Elixir Distillers
Deanston 13yo 2008 56.8% “Cask #182” Elixir Distillers
The question I’m investigating is: are the styles of each of these distilleries distinct enough, and my prior flavour memory of them well-developed enough, that I can discern them in a blind test?
To enact this blind tasting, I write the name of each distillery on a pink sticker and put on the undersides of the glasses. I then fill them, swap them around many times until I don’t know anymore which glass is which, and then put a on yellow sticker visibly labelled 1, 2, 3 on the glasses.
Whisky review
Blind Tasting Sample #1
⚡Experience
Nose: green apple and pear, somewhat floral; very crisp and fresh. Some green grass and fresh cream. Palate is again fruity, just a little sweet. The finish is not long or complex but clean.
⚖️Verdict
A great clean, fruit-forward summer dram. Not the best in its class, but nonetheless very good.
⭐Quality Dram
Whisky review
Blind Tasting Sample #2
⚡Experience
Nose: fresh and minerally, like a dry white wine; a bit ‘musty’ or perfumed. Perhaps some apple and pear too, but much less fruity than #1. Palate: dry and bitter, with a musty (almost sulphurous) and ‘heavy’ flavour profile.
⚖️Verdict
A quality dram, but I would like something a little more distinct, flavour-wise.
⭐Quality Dram
Whisky review
Blind Tasting Sample #3
⚡Experience
Nose: nothing… this one is very closed neat. After I while I pick out malt, honey, perhaps semi-ripe mangoes, crystallized ginger, grapefruit, vanilla — but I’m trying hard here. On the palate it’s fat and malty, bitter, with a slight “smoketrail” in the finish (not peaty, though).
⚖️Verdict
A bit closed; nothing off, but again I’d like something a little more distinct. Still, this is a competent dram.
⭐Quality Dram
Clear winner for me is #1 with its lovely fruit notes. The other two are good too, but more demanding, with a heavier style and more bitterness. I wouldn’t recommend either for a new whisky drinker.
So which is which? The fruity notes of #1 could be either Linkwood or Glen Elgin. I can’t recall having had Linkwood with the ‘mustier’, sulphury notes of #2, but for Glen Elgin I have; although in those instances a sherry cask was involved. Still, on this basis I’ll venture #1 is Linkwood and #2 Glen Elgin. #3 is definitely Deanston; not so much because I can distinctly recognize the profile (although it’s consistent with my idea of Deanston), but because it’s rather clearly not Glen Elgin or Linkwood.
Time for the reveal. Number #1 is… *drum roll* Glen Elgin! Eternal shame be upon me.
In hindsight, it makes sense once I look past the musty / heavy / sulphury aspect. Some Glen Elgins are really Appletizer-appley, and I would say Linkwood tends to be more tart, bitter and minerally than Glen Elgin.
Well, well — C’est la Aquavit.
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