Whisky overboard! Lindores drowning in firkin casks
Sometimes I write an introduction first, sometimes I taste a whisky first and return later to write this little intro. For this blog, it was the latter, and that is a good thing. Because I am drinking a Lindores today, but it has no point to say anything about this Lowland malt distillery, as the whisky is quite irrelevant in this session. That brings me to Malt Squared. A group of whisky enthusiasts that ventured into their hobby a bit deeper, and bring out their own whisky. I recently purchased a sample of a Glen Elgin they’re doing, and today we taste one of their first bottlings. So yes, Lindores, but drowned in a sherry cask. Let’s see what the result is.
Editor’s note: someone from Malt Squared reached out to me when he heard I tasted their sherried Lindores and sent me a similar expression from a bourbon cask. Both are tasted below, sadly I could not do them head-to-head, but here they are with two weeks apart!
Lindores 2019, bottled at 59,9 % abv
First things first: This Lindores was distilled on 11 July 2019 and bottled on Valentine’s Day 2023. For more than 3,5 year this lowland single malt matured in a sherry firkin, which is a cask size the quarter of a barrel, and very well-known in beer circles. Cask #594 produced 65 bottles. This was a Private Cask for Malt Squared.
Upon Sipping: Darker than my soul, my daily coffee and the cat of the neighbours. But the smell is nice and not as over the top as I expected it would be. Lots of red fruit, syrup, rose water. That is what I get sniffing it undiluted. The abv is high so we won’t go further. A first sip introduces us to a strong pure chocolate experience, before the bone dry sherry does its destructive work. Lots of wood now, but there is still some taste to be found. But yeah, of course it is overpowered. The colour suggests nothing else. Okay, with water then! The nose remains as beautiful as is. More sweetness on the palate now, but the chocolate note remains too. Some wood smoke is released and even a hint of lavender and soap. The finish is silky-soft and some sourness comes through. By now, I have to remind myself it is actually Lindores in the glass, but if you would have said Glen Elgin or Kingsbarns I would have believed you too.
Word to the Wise: Quite a kick-ass, take no prisoners bottling. I can’t imagine this is a bottling you want to empty 70 cl of. With an outturn of just 65 bottles, I would have bottled this in 35 cl bottles. As an experiment, this is nice to explore, but as a single malt whisky drinker I miss the element of the core product in this one. Still, the nose is amazing. Pleasure for sherry cask masochists!
Score: 82 points.
Lindores 2019, bottled at 59,3 % abv
First things first: This Lindores was also distilled on 11 July 2019 but the bottling date was marginally later, on 23 May 2023. Cask size was also a firkin. Cask #593 (a sister cask) produced 46 bottles, at little less due to a leakage, I understand. Another Private Cask for Malt Squared.
Upon Sipping: Beautiful vanilla, obviously, with some sweet glue and hints of red leaves fallen from the trees in the city park. Rather difficult to nose, so a sip first and then some water. Bitter entry on the tongue, and much more dry that usual with a bourbon cask. The wood impact is significant, combined with the alcohol heat even a little challenging (dare I say unpleasant), but at the same time I pick up hints of tropical fruits. We need water! Extremely traditional on the bourbon maturation. Gummi candy and vanilla, dry barley, all very clean and rounded. Whiffs of sawdust. Some grassy notes, finally showing lowland character here! Ooph, with water the fruity notes disappeared and make way for a very heavy, oily woodiness. Only on the finish do we return to some bitter apples, but the taste in general has become way more floral. We can conclude in any case that Lindores has the perfect spirit to experiment with, because despite all these heavy cask influences, there is still whisky to be found. More so in this bourbon expression, the sherry was too heavy for my taste, but it does not collapse at all. With enough water, this Lindores turns in the weirdest experience of liquid wood.
Word to the Wise: Let’s make it a tie when it comes to score. But forget about score. Both of these bottlings offer tremendous fun and insight it cask influence on whisky. I had a blast tasting these expressions, coming from Lindores but that is less relevant. The firkins took centre stage.
Score: 82 points.