Ladies and Gents. Welcome back to my site, I hope every single one of you is doing great. I hope you all enjoy this time of the year and that you are all preparing for Christmas to spend time with your loved ones. Today I review yet another sample from my good friend @hun_whiskyhunter ! Please make sure to check out his Instagram for amazing photos of whiskies and more. Let me thank you again for letting me use your pictures of the the bottle. The sample we are looking at is a bottle from the independent bottler Signatory Vintage, a 10 year old Linkwood matured in a 1st fill bourbon barrel. Let's see what this bottle is all about.

About Signatory Vintage

Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co. Ltd., founded in 1988 by Andrew Symington, is a top independent bottler of Scotch whisky in Scotland. They are known for their wide range of high-quality single malt scotches.

Signatory gets its name from the practice of having each whisky cask signed by an esteemed person as a mark of quality. They focus on transparency and authenticity. Unlike some whiskies that add colour or use chill-filtration, Signatory keeps its whiskies natural. This gives a truer taste of the whisky's original character.

Signatory stands out with its large selection. They offer single malts, grains, and blended malts from many Scottish distilleries. These range from young to old and rare whiskies. Some are from closed distilleries, making Signatory a key source for rare Scotch whiskies.

Choosing the right cask is crucial for Signatory. Each cask is picked for its unique features and taste. Signatory is known for its single cask whiskies. These are very limited and collectable. Each single cask bottle is unique, showing a specific time from the distillery.

After buying the Edradour Distillery in 2002, Signatory can mature their casks in-house. They use Edradour's traditional warehouses. This lets them control the maturation process. It also lets them finish their whiskies in different cask types, including sherry, port, and wine.

Signatory's quality and hard work have been recognised in the whisky industry. They have won many awards. Their focus on detail and quality over quantity appeals to those who love fine single malt whisky.

About the Linkwood distillery

Linkwood distillery is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Elgin, in the Speyside region of Scotland. It is owned by the British drinks giant Diageo.

The distillery was built in 1821 by Peter Brown with two stills, and started production in 1825 with a capacity of 4,500 litres per year. The distillery was operated by James Walker until Brown's death in 1868, after which the distillery went under the control of his son, William Brown.

Between 1872 and 1873 William Brown, the son of Peter Brown designed and built a new distillery with help of architect Methven, replacing the old one on the same location. The new distillery had a capacity of 227,000 litres per year. After William Browns death, the Linkwood-Glenlivet company was created by Browns family in 1898 and brought to the stock exchange. The distillery was then further extended to a capacity of 454,000 litres per year.

In 1971 a second distillery was built alongside the first, which became known as Linkwood B, with steam heated stills. The stills of the first distillery were converted to being heated by steam as well. With the build of Linkwood B the two distilleries reached their current combined capacity of 2.5 million litres per year.

The distillery was mothballed between 1985 and 1990 when partial production restarted.

In 2008, Diageo resumed full production with three different official bottlings of Linkwood released.

The production capacity of the distillery stands at an impressive 3.5 million liters a year. The pot stills of the Linkwood distillery has three wash and three spirit stills. The wash stills each have a capacity of 15.000 liters, while the spirit stills each have a capacity of 17.000. Both the wash and spirit stills have a pear shape, with large, spherical lids, and tall conical necks. Linkwood has a series of onsite warehouses, which are both dunnage and racked. The whisky is aged in a combination of American Oak and Spanish Sherry casks, which are selected from a series of distilleries and vintners in America and Spain that the distillery has a long-standing relationship with.

Linkwood (2012-2023) 10 yo SV CS - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 60.1%

"This single malt whisky was distilled in 2012 at the Linkwood distillery in the Scottish Speyside whisky region. It was matured solely in a 1st fill Bourbon Barrel and in 2023 was bottled at 60.1% alc/vol as part of the Signatory Vintage cask strength range. This whisky has no added colouring and was limited to 201 bottles."

Nose: I let it air for about 15 minutes because it is a cask strength expression, I never nose them instantly after a pour. WOW. Opened up quite beautifully. Tons of sweetness rises right away from the glass. A basket of fresh fruits from the orchard. Green and red apples, pears and juicy peaches. The first fill bourbon barrel is doing it's thing. Lots of vanilla, caramel and oak spice. Very sweet. Diving deeper we find a savory layer with freshly cut grass, fresh soil and dirt and a hint of leather. A hint of wet oak. Quite an interesting nose that I love. The alcohol does not stick out at all after letting it air.

Taste: Quite lovely. Oily, great structure, hefty. You right away feel the power of this whisky. The 60.1% hits your mouth and tongue like a truck. It is not an unpleasant feel by any means, the alcohol does not stick out, you just feel the power. Mint and black pepper. Vanilla, maltiness and green apples are leading. Peaches, lemon and orange peel follows. Caramel, a hint of espresso. Wet oak, fresh soil and freshly cut grass. A hint of cardamom and cinnamon along with cooked pears. The end of the palate has a leather note. Amazing taste. 

Finish: Long and lively. It starts off very peppery, very spicy. Then gets very sweet and we have some vanilla along with caramel and orchard fruits. Then it gets dry and dirty with soil, wet oak and leather. Nice journey.

Overall I think this is a great bottling. It has raw power and showcases the Linkwood distillate quite well. It shows that it is very fruity. The cask adds lots of great flavours to the whisky too but it does not overshadow the DNA. Great job from SV. I had this whisky at Cask Strength because I only had a sample, but I probably would have tampered with diluting if I had a full bottle. I liked this a lot. I am giving this a solid rating of 89 / 100. Buy it, try it. Drink responsibly.

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Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.