This first whisky in yesterday’s “Spring Whisky Tasting” at De Whiskykoning was the Bladnoch 20. A rather good start to just about any tasting to start with some 20 year old stuff.

Bladnoch is a bit of a strange distillery which produces barely any whisky compared to the big boys. In a recent article by David Driscoll I read that they haven’t been producing anything at all for the last three years because of some familial infighting. I haven’t been able to confirm this but I guess it is true, since he’s been to the distillery last week.

Anyway, let’s get cracking.

Bladnoch 20 at De Whiskykoning

Sniff:
Malty and dusty with grass and fresh apples. I also get dry twigs and nutmeg. The alcohol is rather apparent even though it’s bottled at 46%. There’s quite a bit of spirit influence still here after 20 years in oak. I guess it wasn’t made up of many fresh fill bourbon casks. After about half an hour it starts to get more vanilla and fudge notes before breaking apart.

Sip:
Rather peppery and lots of malt again. Very grassy with grass, hay and barley. Fairly dry with quite a bit of bitter woodiness.

Swallow:
The finish is back to the maltiness again, and grass, and refill oak, and apples. So actually, it’s not very surprising and very consistent.

Conclusion: It’s a nice whisky and for a 20 year old OB at € 65 it’s kind of a steal. It is not a whisky that’s going to change anything though. So, nice but not great. Which is kind of typical of Bladnoch if you ask me. There have been some rather kick-ass ones but those are mostly single casks from other bottlers.

Bladnoch 20, 46%, OB, available at De Whiskykoning at € 65.