BLADNOCH 1990 - ADELPHI

For a while now, the Bladnoch Distillery just outside Wigtown in the very South-West corner of Scotland, has been silent... It's been up for sale now for couple of years, but every time you hear of an imminent sale, buyers tend to either retract their offer or get it rejected by the a part of the ownership - or at least so the rumors say... but it's not for me to get into that - I'm in this for the whisky and I can only express my sadness that this place isn't up and running, providing us with golden drops a few years down the line...

Meanwhile, let's enjoy some of the whisky from there - distilled a quarter of a century ago...

Bladnoch Distillery, May 6th 2010 © The Malt Desk

Bladnoch 1990 24yo (bottled xx.08.2014) 54,1%, refill ex-bourbon cask#30549, 169 bottles, Adelphi

Colour is golden straw

Nose:
First lots of vanilla , then oak spices pop up, a peppery nip, ginger and some hint of coconut? a couple of drops of water bring out an incredibly grassy and citrussy side and also a garden variety floral side... Lovely!

Taste:
The palate mirrors the nose a lot - the mouthfeel is pretty full, yet its still fresh.
Lots of grass and citrus as mentioned above, lemons/peel, coming across as a bit sharp at times, but some warming oak levels it out beautifully.

This Bladnoch comes across quite full at first but mid palate it looses some of its flavour profile, leaving a kind of a 'hole' in mid palate somewhere between mid palate and finish - quite a strange experience, in fact!

It's still very good whisky, though and just manages to creep past the mid-80s

86/100!

BLADNOCH 1990 50.54 'JAM SESSION' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

This is the first Bladnoch I'll be reviewing here, which is quite odd really, as I've had a few over the past couple of years of running The Malt Desk...

Bladnoch is the southern most distillery in Scotland, all the way down to the south west in Galloway just outside Wigtown. Getting there is quite a drive as its mostly smaller roads leading there, but once there you get that its really quite a tranquil place.

Most will have picked up on the Bladnoch Distillery chatter going around at the moment, a chatter concerning sales of the place, but nothing finite at this moment and AFAIK its still open for offers...

The whisky at Bladnoch is sometimes a tad more oily in style (in my book, at least) than the rest of the Lowland distilleries up near Edinburg, Falkirk (Rosebank, Littlemill, St. Magdalene) and Glasgow and some great bottling have come out of there over the past few years even though its from the old stock, from before the current owner(s) was distilling.

As the distillery is currently up for sale, its still unsure what will happen to the place but I do hope it'll not be lost/mothballed...

Let's try a bottling from the old regime when United Distillers (now Diageo) owned the place...

Bladnoch Distillery, May 6th 2010 © The Malt Desk

Bladnoch 1990 50.54 (10.07.1990) 23yo 'Jam Session' 50%, Refill ex-bourbon barrel, 104 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is straw

Nose:
Some varnish/paint thinner notes, grape fruit, honey, hay, fresh cut grass, overripe banana, passion fruits and white rum

Taste:
Medium light in style, crisp malt arrival turning into tropical fruits, again passion fruits and banana, but also pineapple and mango - all running well into the finish. Varnish sometimes pops up on the finish, but a little water kills it off, including on the nose, bringing out a hint of sour instead.

It's one of those whiskies with very little cask influence - a trait I've seen in a few bottles lately.
I love this Bladnoch, but I'm not sure its a whisky for everyone...

88/100!