In Monday’s post I talked about the reasons for coming back to the blog. All those reasons and ideas are true but they had been mulling around in my head for a while. I guess I was looking for an initial spark to get the typing off again at the rate of 3 articles a week!

Mindless doom scrolling on Facebook… although the FB, Insta, Threads, X daily round robin all tend to blend into one don’t they? Anyway, one of them had a targeted ad for a collection of 50ml samples from a distillery. That distillery was Bladnoch and what caught my eye was the sample pouches were a very similar design to the Whisky-Me ones I had been using a while. These ones though are bio-degradable and made from sugarcane which was pretty interesting as well.

Curiosity got the better of me and I bought one of each of the 5 samples they have on offer on their website. This post will look at the Samsara bottle but the full list will be: (links will be updated as articles are published)

• Samsara
• Alinta
• 8 Year Old
• Wave
• Wave II

Bladnoch is one of those distilleries which I have seen bottles appearing for quite a while but just had a gut feeling it was cynical premium marketing with big heavy bottles over substance. Using samples is a low risk way of trying the product without having to lay out money you will regret spending the morning after.

The Whisky ( and Packaging)

This article is going to focus a lot on the exciting world of sugarcane packaging. The pouches from Bladnoch are unprinted straight from the supplier so save on costs with the novel idea of plastic tagging a cardboard info card rather than a custom packaging printing run. Quite clever really

People who are less fun at parties might point out a plastic tag smashed through the top of the biodegradable renewable packaging maybe undoes the green credentials but its probably ok to put into your plastic recycling bin at home. The screw top on the pouch is definitely plastic recyclable

These pouches look to come from this company here and aren’t cheap for packaging: 50ml Refill Pouch (Plant formed) 1000 pieces | Poucher

I know what you are thinking how does sugar get turned into a plastic like substance and how can it withstand up to 70% alcohol and not dissolve into your hand before it hits the glass.

Well I don’t really know but I do know its formed by taking the by-product of the sugar industry. You take the cane fibres after they have been pulped to extract the sugar water and then you soak the fibres in water to turn it into a substance called bagasse which is then piped and moulded into your packaging shape before being left to cool.

As for the whisky, this Samsara release is a NAS whisky using Bourbon and red wine maturation in its recipe. This is part of their “Twinned Cask” range so I would guess these aren’t finished in Californian red wine but full term matured. From the notes which follow its probably a short time in cask regardless.

The release has been around for 4 years or so and is bottled at 46.7% without chill-filtration. Some of the Bladnoch bottles are least say they don’t use colouring but I can’t see any mention for the Samsara one way or another.

Tasting Notes

Colour – russet orange

Nose – Feels young and hot. If you breathe too deeply you will feel like your nose is burning. There is a lot of sweet syrupy sugar notes and nail polish esters. It’s not just sweet though there is a spiciness from Allspice but it’s faint.

Palate – The expected vanilla from ex-bourbon maturation. Grapefruit sharpness and orange zest tanginess but again its still got an overpowering sense of being young and not ready for primetime yet

Finish – Short and zappy. A nippy sweetie as my gran would say

Final Thoughts

So first sample down and it is looking like my strategy to try samples and not buy whole bottles is paying off. My gut feel was some/all of these Bladnoch’s are under matured and all looks over substance. So far my theory is holding but there is 4 more samples to go.

If you are interested in getting the samples yourself either for the whisky or the packaging the link is: Drams – Bladnoch