Lindores Abbey MCDXCIV Single Malt

NOSE: sweet, floral, vanilla, cake, TASTE: nuts, banana, sweet, light. NOC alcoholic FINISH: peat in the end, nuts, oily & medium long It’s a young, first release of this distillery and when taken account the age of the spirit, it’s a pretty nice player for the upcoming years.

Nose is sweet floral and fruity, very pleasant and simple, pear apple, honey, vanilla. The palate is on the same way, sweet and floral, caramel vanilla, creamy texture. Nice starter

Back in 1494 (MCDXCIV), in Lindores Abbey, a famous friar, John Cor, was authorized by the king to make "AquaVitæ" using 8 bowls of barley. Little did John Cor knew that 527 years later there would be a whisky release that tells his story, the one about the first scotch whisky ever made. Lindores is a new distillery, that has released their first single malt, bottled at 46%abv. Golden color. On the nose, very clean and well delivered. Maize, chocolate, brownies, malty. Hay and coconut oil; it has this buttery and cereal feeling. Bananas are also present on the aroma. On the palate, it has 3 notes, but they are easy to recognize. Vanilla, Pineapple heart and coconut sweet. Aftertaste has a little peaty profile. Salt, earth and hay. There is a dim pepper note also present. Overall, this is a young dram that needs more time. Having said that, it is not a bad whisky, and there is nothing off-putting about it. It is just too simple and the notes found here scream "standard american white oak". My score for it is 75 over 100.

Caramel on nose, Vanilla finish

I’ve had more than my fair share of new inaugural single malts over the years. Most were forgettable and very few memorable. I mean, at the end of the day, the inaugural malts are simply a construct of marketing, isn’t it? It’s just a new, very young , barely 3 year old single malt that a label is placed citing “inaugural “ or “first release” which drives up the demand. In my memory, the only few that were memorable were Kilchoman, Daftmill (which was a 12 yr old as inaugural ), and Bimber. There was the memorable as exceptionally bad as well—- Abhain Dearg, which reminded me of a dish made out of roadkill left out in the sun too long. This one, which I paid about $70 for “ Commemorative “ edition ( the only difference in the Commemorative vs first release was the former has the word “Commemorative “ ), falls squarely in the “ I’ll forget it by end of the week” category, like a rebound date after a long relationship that just broke. Very thin on the nose, maybe not so atypical being a Lowlander...but I’ve only had one other Lowlander—-Auchentoshan, which is also light. Palette is bread-y, dough-y, baked goods. Not getting much of the STR or wine influence. Just very light...which isn’t a bad thing...just wished it had a bit more of something else —if you’re going to be light, have a bit more floral or honey , or citrus...just light and bread-y is boring. But I get it...it’s affordable , and young, but has definite promise. I’ll come back in about 7-10 years.

This sample is courtesy of @PBMichiganWolverine and seems rather interesting as it’s from a new distillery in Lowlands that has aged their whisky for this bottle in a combination of sherry, bourbon and STR burgundy barrels. The nose starts with Honey Nut Cheerios then oak aged Sprite soda followed by a light sherry sulfur note with some rocky minerality, band aids and light barrel spices with low ethanol burn. The taste is a thin-medium mouthfeel starting with caramel, citrus fruits and Cheerios followed by a medium chili pepper spice and chalky powdered ginger that lingers before transitioning to light tannic oak with medium ethanol burn finishing medium length with citrus zest, Cheerios, peppercorns, powdered ginger and light oak. This is a young whisky that needs more time and the flavors from the sherry, bourbon and burgundy casks don’t really surface for me outside the sherry sulfur on the nose. There’s not a lot going on with this one besides some malt, sour fruit and spice, but the whisky is young, so that’s not surprising and it will be interesting to see how their whisky develops over the coming years. Another huge thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine for the sample of this hopeful up and coming distillery.

Nose - caramel, sparkling apple cider, orange zest, sweet floral notes, vanilla, cinnamon, grass, mild ethanol burn. Taste - green apple, sweet floral notes, orange, caramel, lemon, grass, ginger, chili pepper, dry oak, cocoa, cinnamon, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium short and bright with green apple, caramel, and sweet floral flavors. I received this sample in the mail today and was really excited to dive into the review. This has two qualities I very rarely experience: a first release from a brand new distillery and it’s a Lowland whisky. The nose is delicate, fruity, and floral. It’s light and fresh with a bit of baking spice, but there’s not much else going on here. The palate carries most of the same flavor, but with more sour citrus, tingly ginger, and a hint of cocoa. Overall, this is above average but not much more than that. There are some really nice aromas and flavors, but they aren’t yet fully formed. It tastes young and bright, but I bet it’ll come together really nicely with a few more years of aging. From what little experience I have with Lowland whiskies, it seems to be par for the course. Light, fruity, and unassuming. A huge thank you to @PBMichiganWolverine for sending this one along. It was really cool being able to taste a first release from a distillery that shows a lot of promise for the future.

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 9th July 2021). Nose: Sweet, orchard fruit (pears & apples), boiled sweets, caramel/toffee, vanilla Palate: Quite ‘hot’. Sour dried fruit, vanilla, spices (ginger, chilli, white pepper). There are hints of Simpkins travel sweets, too. Finish: Medium finish. Citrus and orchard fruit on the finish. Quite oaky on the aftertaste. Spirit has been matured in a combination of bourbon barrels, sherry butts and wine barriques. All of the barley used in this expression was grown within the original Abbey grounds. The first record of distillation in Scotland was at Lindores Abbey back in 1494. There were excise records from the production of Aqua Vitae (medicinal tonic) rather than whisky, but it is still an interesting exercise to start distilling again on this historic site. There’s a lot of promise in this whisky. At the moment, it’s quite ‘hot’ and a little sour on the palate, with a kick of oak on the finish. The distillers we’re aiming for a fruity style and I think they have been successful in this aim, although obviously matured in an active cask that has served to dry the finish.