Pintail Linkwood 14 Year Old Manzanilla Sherry Cask Finish - 53.5%
Pintail - the home of the ‘funky wine cask finish’ and another ‘heritage’ brand. Pintail was a Matthew Gloag & Son stablemate of Brig o’ Perth, launched some 35 years later (1931) initially as a dry sherry. Advertised in high society publications such as Tatler through the 1940s and 50s, the brand won international awards for its superior quality as the perfect “11 o’clock to serve to guests before lunch and during meals”.
We acquired the brand last year (retaining the original black bottle - white label look with the Pintail duck in flight refreshed on every label) for a variety of Scotch whiskies finished in interesting ex-wine casks (mainly sweet wines) and also any non-Scotch wines and spirits we select to bottle.
Ex-Manzanilla Sherry casks aren’t commonly used in the secondary maturation of Scotch (though increasingly so in recent years), but we just love how the full 12-month ‘finish’ in this cask has created not a ‘sherry bomb’ in style but rather a delicate, floral-sweet malt with a beautiful saline, almost sea-salty hint. Linkwood’s inherent fruit-forward style works perfectly in tandem here.
Manzanilla finish #9067, a limited release of 309 bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Yellow gold with a slight pinkish tinge, forms a thin line which beads before falling as thick, oily legs.
Nose: Golden Delicious apples, heather honey and a touch of nutty oak.
Palate: Butter pastries with soft, stewed Bramley apples, currents, raisins, almonds and cinnamon, heather honey, Rose’s lemon & lime marmalade, sea salt and crystallised ginger. A few drops of water bring out cocoa nibs, and more of the butter pastry at the expense of some of the ginger heat.
Finish: Sea salt, California raisins, marzipan, stewed prunes and crystallised ginger, together with a little nutty oak dryness.
Summary: This is one of those malts which feels like it was made for drinking on a cold autumn evening. That Linkwood character balances well with the Manzanilla cask, providing a lovely fruit-filled pastry note in there together with that ginger heat which lingers. However the thing that really grabs the attention and makes this so unusual for a Linkwood is that slightly salty, almost coastal note. It’s different, but no less enjoyable for it.
Priced at £75 so it’s not the cheapest whisky out there, but there’s real quality and an abv of 53.5% to factor in. If you enjoy Linkwood and want to experience a slightly different side to it, you will probably really appreciate this one.
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Transparency: this sample pack was received free of charge for independent review. The author has no affiliation with the bottler, all opinions are my own and remain completely impartial.
