Disclaimer: this review is for the 26 year old version from independent bottlers That Boutique-y Whisky Company Starting up the old Scottish Distillery Tour again after a couple of weeks off between rounds. Stop number 49 is Bladnoch. A Lowland distillery with apparently very few official bottlings. This offering comes by way of the independent bottlers over at That Boutique-y Whisky Co. A single ex-bourbon cask matured for 26 years and bottled at 47.8% ABV, natural color of yellow gold and non chill filtered. The sample I have is from a 500mL bottle that was one of only 165. The nose starts off with heavy honey, cereal malt and dried grass. A fairly strong oaky character with vanilla and caramel. Lightly nutty with a kind of baked whitefish feel to it. The honey and malt keep coming back around and dominate the nose for a while. Quite floral with some fruits becoming more and more prominent. Melon, peach pits, green grapes, yellow apples. It moves into some tropical type fruits like mango, but that is not as obvious as the others. After more time I get brown sugar, toffee and buttercream. This is a whisky that benefits from patience. A huge arrival on the palate, not at all what I was expecting from the nose. Luscious fruits and lots of them. Apples, pears, berries, melons, mango, coconut, passion fruit and maybe some papaya. Really great so far. It does come around to more closely resemble the nose after a while with vanilla, some pepper, floral honey and malted barley. If you sip and swallow without letting it linger in your mouth there are strong bourbon notes. Then more and more. Some slightly perfume type notes as well. Nice A medium-full mouthfeel that is oily and mouthwatering. The finish is short to medium short, very fruity with honey and vanilla. This is an excellent independent bottling. It took some time to open up and reveals its true character, but it was well worth it. The nose does not prepare you for the palate and I love getting surprised like that (as long as it’s for the better). I was very surprised that all those wonderful fruity flavors came out of an ex-bourbon cask filled with a Lowland new make spirit. The finish could have been longer, but overall I’m impressed. As far as value goes it’s hard to justify $150 for a 500mL bottle, but it’s not that bad considering the age. I give this a 4.25 and a big thanks to tour member @PBMichiganWolverine for the sample. Cheers