Review by: The Muskox
Another blind from Baldric, the third in this set of four mysteries. The previous two have been single malts from the Lochlea and Nc’nean distilleries, so this is clearly a set of whiskies from brand-new distilleries.
Lindores Abbey is a family-owned distillery and medieval abbey located just east of Newburgh on the northeastern edge of the Lowlands. Founded in 2017, they get their distillery character from organic local barley and extra-long fermentation times (117 hours!). This is their inaugural regular release – the roman-numeral year on the label is 1494, the year of the first record of scotch distillation, which apparently took place at Lindores Abbey. There’s nearly a thousand years of fascinating history at the site, which I’d encourage you to read about. They even found old whisky-making equipment while doing archaeological surveys before building the distillery.
As per my blind review policy, my notes, thoughts, and score are all locked-in before the reveal. I didn’t know what was in my glass, other than that it was probably some kind of whisky.
Distillery: Lindores Abbey.
Bottler: Official bottling.
Region: Lowlands.
ABV: 46%.
Age: 3 to 4 years. Distilled in 2017. Bottled in 2021.
Cask type: Matured in a mix of bourbon casks, sherry casks, and STR wine casks, in about a 60:20:20 ratio.
Price: N/A, sample.
Color: Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Nose: Another young malt, but more robust than the other whiskies in this sample set. Some cask sweetness, but not at the STR levels of those other bottlings. Maybe there is a hint of sherry, though: a darker stonefruit note emerges with some time. Light orchard fruit, banana, a little lavender even. Mineral – slightly chalky. A little buttered popcorn, or is it buttered grilled corn? Earthiness, grassiness, roast mixed nuts, caraway, even a hint of peat.
Palate: Medium-light texture, could be 43% or 46%. Arrives with ginger, orange, grapefruit, dried apricots, and more oatcakes. A hint of peat and leather as it develops. Turns grassy on the back end.
Finish: Medium-short. Grassy, slightly oxidized tea notes. Lingering ginger, grapefruit, earth, and some flamed rosemary.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Buttered sea-cliff vista”
Conclusion: Not bad for a young malt! Very complex nose, but that doesn’t really follow through on the palate and finish. The flavours are nice, but it ultimately needs some more time.
In terms of a guess, this doesn’t seem like one of those new-school distillates with long fermentations and clear worts and such. I’m assuming this is another pretty new distillery given the other drams. Ardnamurchan was the first thing to come to mind, especially when I picked up the hint of peat. The buttery, nutty, grassy, and tea notes are also familiar. The texture seems very light compared to the Ardnamurchans I’ve tried, but it also smells way, way less peaty than my bottle of Raasay. What other new distilleries could it be? It’s certainly not Dornoch. I could see this being an unpeated (or unpeated run right after a peated run) Ardnamurchan.
Guess: Single malt, Highlands, very lightly peated, 3-8 years old, 46%, mix of casks.
Shot in the dark: Ardnamurchan?
Final Score: 75.
Post-reveal thoughts: Well, I flunked on my guess of no long fermentation or STR casks, because those are both here. I have no idea if there’s actually any peat in here either, so that may also be wrong! Still, this seems like a more interesting distillate than many of the other inaugural releases I’ve tried recently. It’s not as good as the Nc’nean right now, but I won’t be surprised if Lindores ages into being the better whisky.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 