Bladnoch 29 year old 1990 SMWS 50.111

It's never a good idea for me to do five reviews in a week, as it clashes with all my adulting, but here I am doing it anyway. Again. But the good news is, the whisky works. These Bladnochs have proven to be more consistent, interesting and tasty than the previous two weeks' Bruichladdichs. They certainly show less cask aggression, which always a big plus at Diving for Pearls.

Today's Bladnoch is the sibling cask to yesterday's 28yo. Same bottler, same cask type, same distillation date. But, yes, a different whisky.

Distillery: Bladnoch

Owners at time of Distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons

Region: Lowlands

Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Age: 29 years (26 Jan 1990 - 2019)

Maturation: second-fill bourbon barrel
Cask #: 50.111, "A serious flavour bomb"

Outturn: 111 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 52.6%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose starts off with a youthful combo of anise, Bartlett pears and apricots. A sugary candy shop note sticks around in the background seemingly forever. Apple skins, almond extract and vanilla bean appear later. Sweet tangerines and nectarines mix with toasted almonds in the palate. Tart cherries meet a chipotle smokiness and a hint of herbal bitterness. A tart citrus glow frames the finish, with tiny notes of pound cake, flowers and herbal bitterness offering depth.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or < 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose reads simpler, or perhaps more focused: it's all chalk, grapefruit juice, candy shop and blossoms. Meanwhile the palate gets very cuddly, loaded with sweet fruits (of the citrus and stone sort) and almond cookies, leading into a tart and sweet finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

The whiskies took different paths over nearly three decades in their barrels, but they share notes, like florals, cookies and tart fruits. I think I liked the 28yo just a smidgen more due to its complexity, though that opinion could switch around depending on the mood and environment. This one may be more of a crowdpleaser, reading at times like a decade-younger fruity Glenburgie, especially once diluted. I've overlooked Bladnoch for the past decade-and-a-half, and I'll make sure to avoid that mistake going forward.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 87

Bladnoch 28 year old 1990 SMWS 50.103

The final two Bladnochs come from Scotch Malt Whisky Society's warehouse(s) and contain spirit from the distillery's Arthur Bell & Sons era. Both today's and tomorrow's Bladnochs were distilled in 1990 and matured in second fill bourbon barrels. I tasted them side-by-side in an attempt to gain some perspective.

Distillery: Bladnoch

Owners at time of Distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons

Region: Lowlands

Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Age: 28 years (26 Jan 1990 - 2018)

Maturation: second-fill bourbon barrel
Cask #: 50.103, "Funky nuts and a glass of wine"

Outturn: 118 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 57.7%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Damn it. As per the silly SMWS cask name, I get wine notes in the nose, specifically French chardonnay or, specifically-er (it's been a long night), Chablis. Plenty of minerals and clay in the fore, with dashes of lemon juice and white grape juice around the edges. Slowly the wine fades into the background, as cara cara oranges, white chocolate and shortbread cookies come forward. The palate has a nice mix of mineral and sweet, grassy and fruity. Lime, grapefruit, lychee and a whiff of blossoms. It gets tangier and sweeter with time. The sweetness calms in the finish. There's a pinch of salt, a hint of metal, and tropical fruit punch residue.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose holds shortbread, toffee, orange blossoms and lemon zest. A solid balance of tart and sweet fills the palate. Some guavas roll with the grapefruits. Hints of hay and toasted nuts rest underneath. The finish matches the palate.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Though it's not as wildly complex as the SMWS notes make it seem, this Bladnoch does have angles, especially in the nose. Had it brought the funk as advertised, this would have easily been a 90+ point whisky. For my particular palate, the fruit alone keeps the score up as the second-fill barrel plays the middle ground well, being neither too pushy nor playing dead. Will the other 1990 Bladnoch's cask behave, too?

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 88

Bladnoch 16 year old 1992 Christmas Spirit, cask 2610

The Armstrongs bottled several "Christmas" casks at varying strengths during their ownership. Since I was raised as a Hanukkah celebrator, I don't know what Christmas smells or tastes like. Ham? Nog? Ham Nog? I have had Christmas cake, and I like it so much that I do suggest that someone attempt a deep fried version and call it Hanukkah cake because they totally ate this stuff at Kiddush in the old temple.

What the hell was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Northern Irish.

Sláinte!

Distillery: Bladnoch
Region: Lowlands
Owners at time of Distillation: United Distillers

Owners at time of Bottling: Colin and Raymond Armstrong
Age: 16 years old (15 July 1992 - 11 Sept 2008)

Maturation: sherry butt

Cask #: 2610
Alcohol by Volume: 55%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Starts off boldly on the nose, with fudge, bananas, white grape juice and metal. With time, it picks up subtler notes of dandelions, walnuts and a whiff of industrial funk. Ah, here comes the Xmas cake in the palate. Think buttery toffee, black raisins and Dalmore-ish(?) orange. Silky and zesty. It finishes tingly, toasty and tangy. Not too sweet.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or > 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose now owns a fun blend of farm funk and industrial funk, with some bananas and nectarines in the background. The palate is massively zesty and earthy. A little bit of wood spice and dried currants in the back. Again, not too sweet. It finishes a bit grungy and has some bitter raw nuts rolling in there.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Two different whiskies here, both good, though I prefer the less cuddly diluted version. This is probably not one of the sexier whiskies in the European auctions, so you could certainly do worse than picking up a bottle for a future winter holiday. I'd love to see the current owners pluck some good Armstrong-era sherry casks and offer up a new winter release that costs less than a car.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 87

Bladnoch 11 year old 2001 Lightly Peated, sheep label

The Armstrongs and Bladnoch seemed like a match made in whisky heaven, a whisky geek family buying an unsung distillery. Raymond and Colin Armstrong offered up an online forum that also sold single casks of other distilleries at reasonable prices. They even tried to produce an old-fashioned style spirit. But it wasn't meant to be. It was a struggle to get Diageo (the former owners) to sign off on any production, and the distillation itself had uneven outturns, only hitting max production once, in 2007. So though the Northern Irishmen owned Bladnoch for 20 years, the stills ran for less than nine.

Today's sample is of that era's lightly peated variant, and its bottle's sheep label signaled the whisky had lived in a sherry cask.

No sheep on hand
so a purple Alicorn will have to do

Distillery: Bladnoch
Region: Lowlands
Owners at the time: Colin and Raymond Armstrong
Age: at least 11 years old (2001)

Malt type: lightly peated
Maturation: sherry butt
Alcohol by Volume: 55%

(thank you to My Annoying Opinions for the sample!)

NEAT

The nose begins with a nice lean mix of nuts, apples, lemon juice and concrete. A little bit of yeast here, nectarine there, wood spice in between. The palate has a toasty, nutty top layer, limes and sweet oranges in the middle, brown sugar and barley at the bottom. A mix of citrus types (tart, sweet and bitter) fill the long finish, with some raw nuts in the background.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or > 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Now the nose reads yeasty and grainy, with a pack of Weetabix up front. Gingerbread and golden raisins fill linger behind. Grains, raw nuts and sweet oranges make up both the palate and finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Though I found nothing resembling peat in this pour, it was still a nice crisp whisky, a solid drink for any season. It also wasn't sherry-soaked, or at least the fortified wine trended towards a nutty style (like many actual sherries do). Too bad the distillery didn't become the little Indie that could, but at least the Armstrongs made and bottled some good whiskies.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 86

Bladnoch 10 year old (bottled ~2018)

Bladnoch is one of those I'm-open-I'm-not-open distilleries that cause ownership to either:

A. Release NAS bottlings, or

B. Wait until the stock ages a little longer, or

C. Understate the whisky's age.

"A." is frequently the way. 

Bladnoch was closed from 1905-1911, 1937-1956, 1993-2000, and 2009-2017, which means the newest ownership will have to make some choices about their expressions over the next several years. They've already chosen "A." But will they also choose "B." or "C."?

Four years after its release, their limited edition 10 year old is still on liquor store shelves across this little blue world, so this review might almost be relevant!

Suzy Creamcheese is about to steal the sample bottle...

Distillery: Bladnoch
Region: Lowlands
Ownership at time of distillation: Colin and Raymond Armstrong
Age: at least 10 years old
Maturation: bourbon casks
Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 46.7%

(thank you to Dr. Springbank for the sample!)

NEAT

All the caramel, honey and mint in the nose read more like bourbon than single malt scotch, so those casks have expressed themselves.....into the whisky. Minerals, dried herbs, heather, and lavender flowers fill the middle and background. Cardamom pods take over after 30+ minutes. Though vanilla, caramel and wood spice do appear in the palate, they float in the distance rather than clogging the foreground. Instead, lime candy, yeast, and a variety of peppercorns read loudest. It finishes very sweet, with caramel and lime candy.

DILUTED to ~40%abv, or < 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Marshmallows, caramel corn and cardamom fill the nose. The palate's a curious cocktail of simple syrup, cardamom, cloves and woody bitterness. It finishes with vanilla, flowers and tannins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Though Bladnoch 10 year old is cask-forward, it's also very pleasant, exceeding my low expectations. The blenders selected casks that countered the distillery's sometimes-quirky spirit, and created a contemporary easy-drinking whisky. (Keep it neat, though.) It's the sort of whisky that would have cost $25-$30 eight years ago, but goes for at least twice that price now.

Availability - USA, Europe, New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere
Pricing - $55-$80

Rating - 83

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

Bladnoch 22 year old 1977 Old Malt Cask

While I've never actively disliked Bladnoch, I've also never understood its (former) cult appeal. Its previous owners, the Armstrongs, seem to have run the distillery as a family business, warts and all, which was refreshing as the Scotch industry slid into corporate control. I also never took part in the Bladnoch Forum, which seemed to wrap up its releases just as I began my online whisky life. As a result, some of y'all reading this post will have your feet more firmly planted in the old Bladnoch world than I.

(Obligatory paragraph about modern Bladnoch: The distillery's current ownership seems to have tried to force a generally unknown brand into the ultra-premium sphere. They haven't released a single thing that sounds interesting, so they (like 99.9% of the ultra-premium brands) will enjoy success without my contribution.)

Whisky friend Cobo, sent me this sample of '70s(!) Bladnoch a few years ago, and I've been sitting on it (literally!) until it had a proper drinking mate. And now it does. Today the '70s, Friday the '90s. From Carter to Clinton. Fill in your joke here. I'm sure Randy Brandy will.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Region: Lowlands
Ownership at time of distillation: Inver House
Independent Bottler: Douglas Laing
Range: Old Malt Cask
Age: 22 years (December 1977 - July 2000)
Maturation: maybe a bourbon barrel?
Outturn: 174 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 50%

NOTES
The nose has a gorgeously malty base with hints of earth and whole cloves on top, followed by pairings of peach candy and flower blossoms, kiwi juice and dried cranberries, dunnage and ocean air. Then a hint of incense. On the palate, a low rumble of tart fruits (citrus, berries, guava) carries along loads of barley. Sweet apricots, bits of musty dunnage. A butterscotch note develops with time, and the citrus edge expands. It has a very creamy mouthfeel. The finish's sweetness is balanced by tart citrus and a peep of horseradish. Some tropical fruit hints arise along with the nose's dunnage note.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
This is fine fine whisky, leagues beyond what I'd anticipated. It's perfectly matured malt without any woodiness, its elements having achieved dynamic equilibrium. There are three single casks of 22yo 1977 Bladnoch in the OMC line, the other two have shown up in European auctions, their hammer prices high but not unreasonable considering the quality and age. This one, though, with the smallest outturn of the three seems to be scarce, hopefully consumed! Anyway, if you have a bottle of it collecting dust, please open and enjoy it. It would be a cracking drink when spring returns.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???
Rating - 90

Birthday Booze: Bladnoch 16 year old Signatory, cask 89/591/20

Ah, the oldest of the Signatory mini set's six whiskies: Bladnoch.  Almost 17 years old!  I've had split luck with my Bladnoch experiences.  Either they're pretty good or pretty mediocre.  Its United Distillers era seems to have produced the good ones.  But this particular cask was pre-UD, back when Inver House owned the place.  So I have no idea what to expect from it.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership at time of distillation: Inver House
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 16 years (June 30, 1980 - June 1997)
Maturation: probably a refill ex-bourbon cask
Cask#: 89/591/20
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

NEAT
The darkest of this set's six whiskies, this Bladnoch's color is almost gold!  At first the nose sniffs like a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and dried apricots.  But then there's carob bark and carpet.  Then dried pineapples and cherry sauce.  Meanwhile it also has a meaty/savoury thing going on: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms.  Once it's aired out for more than 20 minutes it sheds everything but fruit and spice.  Think cardamom and mango.  The palate starts off decently.  Whipped cream, strawberries, cream of wheat, milk chocolate, and caramel.  Then whoooosh, those notes vanish by the third sip.  A bright bitter note remains, followed by carpet fibers, and an edgy off note similar to yesterday's Glenallachie.  It's admirably un-sweet, but it's also un-good.  The finish has that decent start for the first two sips.  Milk chocolate, caramel, and lots of salt.  But subsequent sips leave behind only cardboard and over-steeped black tea.

Um, okay.  Some water perhaps?

WITH WATER (~35%abv)
The nose has become quite faint.  There's some of the cardamom and mango.  Maybe some lychee, honey, and cilantro.  Roses?  The palate is cardboard dipped in sweet cream and over-steeped tea.  Kinda barley-ish at times.  There's nothing but mleh in the finish.  Endless mleh.

CLOSING WORDS:
The nose is strange, but grows enjoyable when it settles down.  Though as the nose gains focus, the palate goes to seed.  Completely.  It's fair to call the resulting finish terrible.  Even though the whisky has its positives, I'm going to be extra tough on it because it's never balanced and I'm still having sense memories of the finish's crapulence.  And if I can't drink the damned whisky, then what good is it?

Availability - ?
Pricing - ?
Rating - 69 (the nose keeps the score from heading to sub-Cutty levels)

Single Malt Report: Bladnoch 1984-2004 Scott's Selection

I'm closing up Bladnoch Week with the oldest and strongest of the bunch, a 1984 from Scott's Selection.  I split this bottle with MAO of My Annoying Opinions.  When MAO last visited LA -- he flew across the country with his wife and children just to drop off my six ounces of whisky -- we had a chance to grab a full lunch of bowel organ soup and blistering fermented bamboo salad.  That's the sort of meal one doesn't fully appreciate until one is weeping on the terlit the following afternoon.  I look forward to his next visit.

I really have no helpful facts today.  Maybe some suggestions.  Don't ignore those random Scott's Selection whiskies still sitting on retailer shelves after 10+ years......unless you live in LA/OC county; those bottles should be left on the shelf for me.  Don't make prop bets and avoid the new table card games in Vegas, they're mathematically awful and designed for suckers.  Don't click on links that lead you to articles on penis size.  Wash your hands after using the bathroom.  Play outside.  Call your mother.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership: ???
Bottler: Scott's Selection (R.I.P.)
Age: 20-ish years (1984-2004)
Maturation: Probably ex-bourbon casks
Region: Lowlands
Alcohol by Volume: 55.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

I tried this one alongside yesterday's official 18 year old, first neat, then at 46%abv, then just below 40%abv...

NEAT
The color is amber.  The nose is not hot considering its ABV.  First comes the fruits: lemons, limes, and lots of pineapple.  Then dates and dough.  A big hit of caramel.  Hell, it's a pineapple upside down cake.  With some whipped cream.  It's also occasionally meaty and farmy.  A brief whiff of camphor.  When I first hit this bottle, the palate was very soapy.  Thankfully that note, though still present, has since receded.  Now leading the way are lemons, barley, cayenne pepper, and a hint of perfume.  A lemon-creme-filled powdered doughnut.  Bitter honeydew, if that's a thing.  If the nose was a pineapple upside down cake with whipped cream and the palate is a lemon-creme-filled doughnut, then the finish is a pizzelle (with grains, sugar, vanilla, and a baked cookieness).  There's also lots of citrus, some of the cream and caramel from the nose, and some of that soap.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose is all fresh fruit (lemons, figs, pineapples, and melon) with whipped cream.  The palate loses more of the soap, gains rose petals and a light bitterness.  Then tart lemons, sugar, and caramel.  The soap comes back in the finish, followed by swirls of tart→sweet→bitter→sweet.

WITH WATER (<40%abv)
Lots of caramel on the nose.  Lots of barley sugary stuff too.  Citrus blossoms.  The palate is a pleasant over-steeped tea with raw sugar added.  Caramel again.  The finish continues to have a nice sweet/bitter interplay.

My first thought was this was a flapper girl of a whisky.  Then I thought it was the horn section in Tommy Dorsey's Opus One (which just happened to play while I was doing the tasting).  It has that life, perk, and energy.  But, the soap.

MAO posted his review of this specific bottle two months ago, and our findings are so similar that if we had done a simulpost the two reviews would have seemed redundant and perhaps suspicious.  I was glad to see that he found the soap note as well because I'd first tried this whisky the night after I'd had a soapy Imperial and was beginning to wonder if I was beginning to imagine soap.  Overall, he tolerates that note more than I this time.

To me, this whisky would have been a dazzler (90+ points maybe) without the soap.  But the soap is there and keeps knocking the thrills back slightly.  Time and water help wash it away.  Mostly.  Still, I've enjoyed it.  Thanks to this one and the '93 Signatory, I might just keep an eye out for my own bottle of UD-era indie Bladnoch in the future.

Availability - Happy Hunting (in the US)!

Pricing - anywhere from $150-$250

Rating - 86

Single Malt Report: Bladnoch 18 year old (OB, sheep label, 55%abv)

On Tuesday, it was a Signatory.  On Wednesday, I reviewed a Provenance.  Today, it's an official bottling of Bladnoch.  Tomorrow's will be another indie.  What all of four of these Bladnochs have in common are that they were distilled by United Distillers (proto-Diageo), rather than by the more recent ownership.

As they did with the Benromach distillery, Diageo not only sold the Bladnoch distillery but also -- out of the goodness of their black hearts -- allowed the new ownership to actually distill spirit.  In this case, perhaps in order to prevent direct competition with their own Lowland distillery, Glenkinchie, Diageo only allowed the new ownership to distill a maximum of 100,000 liters annually (as opposed to the 1,300,000 liter capacity it had before).  While 100K sounds like a lot, it's not.  As of 2013, that production put them 96th out of 97 Scotch malt distilleries.  Only Edradour was producing less.  Glenkinchie's capacity is 24 times larger.  (Note: I have also seen a 250,000/liter current capacity listed for Bladnoch via some sources.)

Nonetheless, Raymond Armstrong and Co-ordinated Development Services did start producing spirit in 2000 and squeezed out quite a number of bottlings before they shut down the shop last year.  They had also been renting out 10 of their 11 warehouses to other companies for cask storage (according to the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2013) thus bringing in a more consistent revenue stream.

Meanwhile, they were also bottling some of the whisky that had been distilled by their predecessor.  Today's whisky, an 18 year old, was distilled just before proto-Diageo mothballed the joint in the early '90s.  It was bottled at 55%abv and had an image of two proud sheep on its label.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership: ???
Age: 18 years
Region: Lowlands
Maturation: Sherry cask
Alcohol by Volume: 55%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(This sample was from Florin (a prince), bottled almost 2 1/2 years ago, back in the day.)

NEAT
The color is Macallan (Sienna?) dark.  The nose feels very closed at first.  Light grassy and oat notes emerge first, with more and more cereal appearing with time.  Then orange peel and dry soil.  After a while the main scent that emerges is that of cucumber skin, taking over almost entirely.  With lots of air, out come golden raisins and polyester couch cushions.  The palate feels a bit tight too.  It goes floral→sweet→bitter.  A bit of single grain simplicity.  Then with air, notes of silverware and mold suddenly appear.  Then a hint of cream sherry.  But sometimes it's just austere and bitter.  Vanilla comes out in the finish, followed by confectioner's sugar and black raisins.  Notebook paper and simple bitterness last the longest.

WITH WATER (approx. 46%abv)
The nose picks up a good figgy note.  The grass and cucumber skin notes remain.  Notes of eucalyptus and circus peanuts follow.  And, oddly, it kinda works.  Ah ha, here's the sherry in the palate, appearing as a big chocolate hit.  An herbal bitterness grows with time, as does quite a bit of green grass/chlorophyll.  The finish is all bitter chocolate, chlorophyll, and baby powder.

WITH WATER (<40%abv)
The nose is gentle, like a light fruity tea. Little bits of orange peel and aromatic bitters, followed by a dry leafy, rooty note.  The palate gets slightly soapy.  Notes of Earl Grey, sugar, cherry candy, soil, and vanilla bounce around each other.  It finishes with cherry candy, caramel, and a light bitterness.

I rarely say this about a whisky, but water is a MUST for this one.  When neat, it's closed and forgettable.  Airing it out helps a little, but it gets more enjoyable when hydrated.  Overall, it's odd, as you may be able to gather from my notes.  I find the cucumber skin note on the nose very pleasant, though others may not.  The chocolate palate note at the 46%abv point is very nice.

These official bottlings were priced nicely back when they were available.  Sadly I missed out on grabbing one.  I doubt I'd go after this particular bottling, but this quirky grassy herbal character I've found in Bladnoch appeals to my nose and mouth.  If you've had some of the sheep/cow-labelled Bladnochs, please let me know in the comments what you thought of 'em.

Availability - Somewhere in Europe...

Pricing - I think it was $70-$90 (pre-shipping) as recently as 2013

Rating - 82 (with water only, when neat it's in the mid-70s)

Single Malt Report: Bladnoch 13 year old 1991 McGibbon's Provenance (casks 1083+1447)

This is the second of four Bladnochs this week.  Yesterday's was weird but lovable (like some of us) and proved to be a good sparring partner for this whisky.

Today's helpful facts: The distillery was built alongside the river Bladnoch in Wigtownshire (real name) in 1817 by the brothers McClelland, though they didn't get the legal license to start distilling until eight years later.  An Irish company (Dunville & Co.) bought the distillery in 1911 and ran it intermittently until it was liquidated 26 years later.  After passing through the hands of six different owners (including Inver House and United Distillers), Bladnoch wound up in the hands of Co-ordinated Development Services, half of which was made up of the brothers Armstrong, also from the neighboring green isle.  Then (as mentioned yesterday) the distillery went up for sale after less than 20 years.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership: ???
Bottler: McGibbon's Provenance (Douglas Laing)
Age: 13 years (July 1991 - August 2004)
Cask #s: 1083 & 1447
Region: Lowlands
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(Thank you to Mr. Cocktailchem himself for the sample!)

The color is brass.  Whiskybase says there's no added colorant and I'm inclined to believe them/it here.  First up in the nose is a combination of anise, grain, and yeast.  Mostly oak free.  Some orange oil, grapefruits.  Hot cereal and flower blossoms.  There's some grimy funk involved that may or may not be related to peat.  With time in the glass, the whisky starts picking up bright notes like confectioner's sugar, roses, peach nectar, and blueberries.  The palate is soft and creamy with a slight peppery bite.  Vanilla shows up for the first time and in quantity.  It all gets sweeter with time, but a subtle tartness keeps it in check for a while.  After some time, here comes the anise, flowers, and grapefruit.  Eventually the sweetness becomes aggressive.  More citrus comes out in the lengthy finish.  That's followed by peppercorns, vanilla, and a hint of mocha.  Again, the sweetness expands with time.

In Jordan's review of this whisky, he mentions that this bottle got better with time.  I had aired my sample out for a while because I got involved with baby-related matters, so perhaps a little bit of oxidation helped things out because I liked this one.  (Also, Jordan and I found more similar notes than we usually do.)

This isn't as zany as yesterday's Bladnoch, but the casks were very reserved, again.  As a result this whisky might feel a little young to those folks used to a lot of oak in their glass.  The sweetness gets a little bold at times and I wouldn't say this was the most complicated of malts, but it's good drinkin' after it has breathed.

Too bad the price on it is so silly.  $90?  I'm not surprised it's still on the shelves after 10 years.  At half its going rate, I would recommend it.

Availability - A few US stores still have it

Pricing - $80-$90

Rating - 83

Single Malt Report: Bladnoch 20 year old 1993 Signatory (casks 767+773)

Bladnoch Bladnoch Bladnoch Bladnoch.  That's how this week's going to play out.  I'd noticed that I had yet to do a full report on a Bladnoch, and there were four Bladnoch samples from four different sources in my stash.  So the latter could address the former.  Because I do not have four nights of fully functioning senses and sanity in one week, I planned two nights with two whiskies each.  Comparisons often help me figure out whiskies, so hopefully this works.

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Bladnoch somehow has a committed following and is often ignored completely when folks write about the Lowlands (as in a recent Whisky Magazine article about distilleries in that part of Scotland).  As of a couple years ago there were only three functioning malt distilleries there, so it's kinda hard to miss, especially with the ongoing drama with its ownership situation.

Sadly, Bladnoch was closed and went up for sale last year.  Its current fate is sort of blurry.  There were a number of posts/rumors on the internet that Vatika Group (an Indian real estate and construction company) had purchased the distillery, but I still haven't found an official public confirmation of a closed sale.  What I did find was a blurb that Vatika backed out of the sale last month.  That hyperlink will send you to the forum run by Raymond Armstrong, one of Bladnoch's former owners.  A forum member mentions Vatika backing out and Armstrong confirms it.  So......I guess the distillery's still up for sale if somebody wants it.

Okay, Bladnoch #1 this week is a 20 year old from Signatory.  It's not one of their cask strength editions, nor is it from their Unchillfiltered series.  It's one of those gold/yellow-labelled bottlings that are presented at 43%abv.  This Master of Malt sample was generously gifted to me by my buddy Tetris (thanks, Tetris!) and was studied alongside tomorrow's Bladnoch.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership: ???
Bottler: Signatory
Age: 20 years (March 8, 1993 - April 25, 2013)
Maturation: Hogsheads
Cask #s: 767 & 773
Bottles: 798
Region: Lowlands
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Possibly
Caramel Colorant? No

Its color is light gold.  On the nose, the first sniff brings one of the most intensely grassy notes I've yet come across.  Think wet grass and wet soil in the morning after a night rain.  That's met by a hint of pine, followed by more than a hint of wormwood.  Then cucumber, celery, and mint leaves.  A distant tire fire.  Maybe there's a little bit of lime candy and maraschino cherries brightening it up around the edges.  The palate is remarkably loud for a 43%abv.  A big burst of bitter rooty dirtiness held together by syrupy toffee.  A blast of barley and sugary sweetness arrives next.  Then, after a half hour of air, suddenly some sherry shows up.  And it's a sweet sherry, full of carob and prunes.  Meanwhile, the bitterness never leaves.  After all that pomp, the finish gets quiet.  Some the palate's residual bitterness remains along with the nose's grassy stuff.  A hint of toffee, some roasted coffee.  Then a curious puff of cigarette smoke lingers on the tongue.

This one is a strange mess, but I love it.  The nose, especially, is a hoot, as it's as far from contemporary oak tech as can be.  Its (good) greenness and earthiness remain strong throughout.  As mentioned, the palate is impressively rich.  The bitter and sweet notes are almost musical together.  The effect of the whisky's proofing down only shows in the mild finish and that's what keeps me from giving this a 90+ score.

Though the whisky came from two hogsheads, one of them probably had once been seasoned with sherry.  Or this was a result of a recasking of sherried Bladnoch.  The smoke note could be the result of some interaction with barrel char, or the barrel's former contents, or some peated residue in the still itself, because I don't think that this was from purposely peated spirit.  No matter the source of the oddities, they're entertaining.

So, this is a whisky for specific palates.  It's gotten no love from whiskybase members -- which is understandable -- but it's not easy to find any remaining bottles out there.  So somebody bought this stuff.  And it did spawn a sequel that contained casks 774 & 775.  In any case, if you have a bottle of this Siggy Bladnoch (casks 767 and 773) then at the very least you probably won't find it boring.

Availability - Happy Hunting (in Europe)!

Pricing - May have been in the $75-$85 (pre-shipping) range

Rating - 88

Notes from a tasting: Peatin' Meetin' Whiskies at Home, Part 2

To recap, while I did attend Peatin' Meetin' this year, I did not drink during the event.  Instead I picked up a baker's dozen samples, all of which I will be tasting in the controlled environment of my home.

Most of these samples are 0.5oz (unless otherwise noted), so I probably won't be providing numerical grades.  Instead, I'll be giving each one a letter grade range.

Last week I tasted four of the samples, this week I did three.  Here's the list:

-- Balvenie 17 year old Islay Cask (OB, 43% ABV) - Grade Range: B-/B
-- Loch Lomond Peated, green label (OB, 46% ABV) - Grade Range: D+/C-
-- Bowmore 16 year old 1990 Sherry Cask (OB, 53.8% ABV) - Grade Range: B-
-- Laphroaig 13 year old 1994 (Cadenhead, 54.7% ABV) - Grade Range: B-/B
-- Bladnoch Lightly Peated 11 year old 2002 K&L exclusive (OB, 51.5%)
-- Longrow 10 year old Sherrywood (OB, 46% ABV)
-- Laphroaig 15 year old 1998 K&L exclusive (Signatory, 61% ABV)
-- ???
-- ???
-- ???
-- ???
-- ???
-- ???

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Bladnoch Lightly Peated 11 year old 2002 K&L exclusive (OB, 51.5%)
K&L picked up three single barrels of Bladnoch directly from the distillery: this one, a 4yo, and a 23yo
Nose -- Oakier than it looks, with some wood pulp and butter going on, though that part isn't too strong. The peat reads as a recently snuffed bonfire. There's a larger note of lemon peel and a hint of fresh peach.
Palate -- Lots of citrus.  A very nice bitterness, light sweetness.  A rye-ish spice meets a gentle mossiness and a peep of tropical fruit.
Finish -- Mild spice, mild bitterness.  Hot cereal and caramel.

Grade Range: B
Even though it probably would get lost at Peatin' Meetin' amongst the heavy hitters, this is actually a very solid mild peater.  For me, it's one of the rare whiskys whose palate trumps its nose.  I liked it even more than the Cadenhead Laphroaig.  If the Armstrongs had figured out how to nail this as a 46% ABVer, it would've been very nice in a regular Bladnoch range.

Longrow 10 year old Sherrywood (OB, 46% ABV)
original part of the regular range, it was discontinued sometime around 2008
Nose -- The sherry note itself is subtle as everything has merged together lushly. Tropical fruit, toffeed peat, milk chocolate, faint smoke, orange peel, maple, and a hint of oats.
Palate -- A quirky start: mint and basil and caramel sauce meet a very farmy peat.  Then there's black licorice, a little salt, and a lotta malt.  Fresh cherries in simple syrup develop over time.
Finish -- Long. Loads of malt. Peppery spice and peat residue. Cherry candy and fresh oranges.

Grade Range: B+/A-
Good god.  Springbank, please bring this back.

Laphroaig 15 year old 1998 K&L exclusive (Signatory, 61% ABV) 
I grabbed almost a full ounce of this stuff, which had been aged in a refill sherry butt
Nose -- A summer meadow, then that same meadow burned down.  Wheat bread toast and aged dry cheese.  There's some meaty sherry in the background, along with a little bit of floral stuff, farmy notes, and orange peel.  With water, it develops dog fur, pepper, bacon, and hay notes; and becomes less smoky in the process.
Palate -- Intense char, menthol, and hops. Sherry and prunes at the very edges. Some earthy notes in there too.  With water it gets hoppier and sweeter; the smoke fades and the peat moss builds.
Finish -- Charred peat and a soft floral note. Next-day cigar mouth.  With water, the smoke returns along with a spicy bite.

Grade Range: B/B+
The nose gets the B+.  Overall, pretty good, quality-wise comparable to the better official 10 year old CS batches.  I could understand paying $100 for this, but $170?  Not I.

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That was a happy trio. I liked all three better than any of the four from last week.  Longrow 10 year old Sherrywood is in first place, with Loch Lomond Peated (green label) safely in last.  I won't be able to post next weekend, but I'll get the next round of Peatin' samples in as soon as I can.