I met my befriended Linkwood supplier last Monday, and when things quieted down a little bit I immediately sat down to drink this sample he brought me. Normally this wouldn’t be a whisky I’d pick up since it’s a rum cask, but I’m always keen on trying things I wouldn’t normally try.

Linkwood is a Speyside whisky that, to me, always has a bit of a beer like quality to it. Lots of dry notes of barley, with a herbaceous edge that is not unlike the flavor hops bring to beer. With a rum cask, that might be very different of course. Let’s try!

Sniff:
This one starts with a rather heavy nose of wood and some rich sweetness. Ripe tropical fruit stew, quite sugary. An ester-y note comes through after a little while, with a more chemical approach to fruitiness. It’s slightly more funky than you’d expect from a Linkwood.

Sip:
The palate packs a much bigger punch than it’s 47.3% promises. There’s quite some sweetness behind the fierceness, tropical fruitiness. A rum funkiness with some old wood and some sugarcane like juiciness. Still quite barley driven, and a lot of oak.

Swallow:
The finish mellows immediately, the sweetness too. It leaves a slightly bitter woody note and some dry flavors of barley.

It’s a strange one, this. On one hand it’s a lovely dram that balances the rum cask rather well with a whisky spirit. On the other hand due to the added sweetness of the rum cask, it loses that typical beery note. I kind of miss it, although the notes of tropical fruits are quite lovely!

88/100