...where distraction is the main attraction.

Friday, December 13, 2019

Bladnoch 26 year old 1992 Cadenhead Authentic Collection

As I mentioned in the previous post, I never really understood Bladnoch's appeal. In fact, aside from Auchentoshan's kooky (or cookie?) indie single casks, there's nothing from current Lowland distilleries that appeals to my palate. Hell, Springbank's Hazelburn does Lowland better than the Lowlanders.

But that was before a recent tasting between this 26 year old Bladnoch and a 22yo from the 1970s. I tucked into the '77 Old Malt Cask whisky first and was immediately impressed. Could this more recent single cask compete?

Distillery: Bladnoch
Region: Lowlands
Ownership at time of distillation: either Bell & Sons or United Distillers
Independent Bottler: Cadenhead
Range: Authentic Collection
Age: 26 years (1992 - 2008)
Maturation: bourbon hogshead
Outturn: 246 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 49.3%
(Thank you to LV33 for the sample!!)

NOTES
The nose begins with apples, pears, saline and rope. 10 minutes later: fruity cinnamon, lime juice, barley grist and almonds. 10 minutes after that: lots of fragrant stone fruits skins. The palate is Barley City. Its inhabitants also include limes, citrons, minerals and hint of milk chocolate. Minimal sweetness. Slightly medicinal without being peaty. It finishes with lemons, limes, salt, barley and a little bit orange juice.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
It's romantically unromantic. A goldilocks malt. Well-matured with no woody interference, this Bladnoch brings the citrus and stones and barley and......then my glass is empty. But before I finished it, the whisky was great! (For those of you who demand a whisky's approval by a certain Frenchman, here it is.) It certainly stood up to the 1977 OMC Bladnoch. There's all of a one point difference in scores between them, which is meaningless because on another day I could think this the better Blad. I'm so happy to have discovered Bladnoch, a decade too late or not, though I'm unhappy that I've already found myself window shopping other single casks of this Lowlander.

Availability - At Cadenhead shops, maybe?
Pricing - €150ish
Rating - 89