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KWM Advent 2018 Day 2 - Cadenhead Linkwood 2006 KWM Cask

Posted on November 12, 2023

by Andrew

For Day 2 of KWM Whisky Advent we are featuring our 11 year old single cask of Linkwood, bottled exclusively for KWM by WM Cadenhead, Scotland’s oldest independent bottler. You are going to see more than a few WM Cadenhead bottlings in this year’s Calendar, in part because they were able to offer us an amazing selection of single cask, single malt, whiskies. Kensington Wine Market is proud to be the exclusive retailer of WM Cadenhead whiskies in Canada.

 

Picture courtesy of @frombarreltobottle


First, a little bit about WM Cadenhead. Let’s call this Part I. We’ll elaborate more about them in posts to follow, but today we will focus on the founder and the firm’s namesake, two different men. The firm we know today as Cadenhead’s was founded by George Duncan at 47 Netherkirkgate in Aberdeen in 1842. Not much was known about George Duncan, other than that business was good in the early years. The firm was established as a Vinter and distillery agent and was doing well enough for him to bring his brother-in-law William Cadenhead into the business in 1853. When Duncan died suddenly in 1858, Cadenhead assumed control of the business and promptly changed its name to WM Cadenhead, a practice not uncommon at the time. He also wedded Duncan’s widow, which may not have been so common a practice. (Stay tuned for the next installment on Cadenheads: Part II)

Linkwood itself is a relatively old distillery, founded in 1821, south of Elgin, by Peter Brown, in what we call the Speyside region. It, like many of the other early distilleries in the region, started as a farm. Production began officially in 1825 with two small pot stills and a capacity of just 4,500L a year. This is 1/10th of what Glenlivet and Glenfiddich each are now able to produce in a day. Linkwood passed on to Brown’s son William in 1868, who demolished it in 1872 and built a brand new, more efficient, distillery on site. The new distillery was capable of producing 225,000L of whisky a year - making it a big fish for the time - but a minnow compared to the modern Scotch Whisky industry. William Brown passed away in 1898 just as the distillery was expanding again to a production capacity of 454,000L. This was also the height of a new boom in whisky production which was soon going to turn to bust.

The Brown family established the Linkwood-Glenlivet company to manage the business in 1898. In 1902 they brought Innes Cameron on board to run things. He became the managing director and largest shareholder in short order. On his passing in 1932 the Linkwood Distillery Company was sold to Scottish Malt Distillers, who in turn were bought by United Distillers of Scotland (the forbearers of Diageo). The distillery has remained in Diageo’s hands ever since, and their single malt has been used almost exclusively for the production of Blended Scotch whisky. During the 3rd whisky boom of the 1970s, a new distillery was built alongside the old one (Linkwood B), and run in tandem. The old distillery was finally mothballed between 1985 and 1990, with production moving over to the newer facility.

One quick side note before we get on to the tasting note: You’ll note the reference to Linkwood-Glenlivet above and on the bottle’s label. This is a quirk of the early industry in the mid-1800s. Glenlivet was one of the first distilleries to go legit after the passage of the Small Stills Act, and quickly developed a reputation for quality. Adding Glenlivet on to a distillery’s name implied it was of good quality. Macallan called itself Macallan-Glenlivet for a time, as did Glenfiddich-Glenlivet and even Springbank-Glenlivet. So rife was the practice of firms tacking Glenlivet on to their name that Glenlivet has ever since referred to themselves as “The Glenlivet.” WM Cadenhead takes pleasure in reminding people of the past!

Our first new KWM exclusive cask of 2018 was this 11 Year old Linkwood from an ex-Bourbon Hogshead bottled at a natural cask strength of 58.7%. It takes a lot to get me excited about Linkwood, but this one caught all of our attention. 288 bottles are available of this dangerously drinkable whisky.

Cadenhead Linkwood (-Glenlivet) – 58.7% - 11 Year KWM CASK – ex-Bourbon Hogshead

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: lemon and pear drops, tapioca and white chocolate Hershey's Kisses; shortbread dusted in coarse sugar with a touch of lemon; jammy dodgers and other cream filled cookies; freshly baked donuts, chocolate éclairs and tarte tatin.

Palate: sweet, honeyed and fruity; oily and toasty; white fruity and glossy citrus tones; lemon cream cookies, jammy dodgers and more sugar dusted shortbread; decadent and doughy, like an old-fashioned donut shop: carrot cake with creme cheese icing, custard creme and apple curler donuts, and also more chocolate éclairs; lots of lemon and white fruits, creamsicles and building decadent spices.

Finish: long and elegant beyond its years; creamy with doughy tones and lots of honey; soft spices and minty floral tones and bright fruits.

Comment: this is a sessionable and dangerously drinkable whisky; tasted blind, you would never know this Whisky is 11 years old or nearly 60%.” - $110

 

Playing catch-up on our 2018 Kensington Wine Market Whisky Advent Calendar?

 

 

You can find the rest of the blog posts here!

 

 

 

This entry was posted in Whisky, KWM Whisky Calendar 2018, Whisky Calendars

 

 

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