The first age statement in the Lowlands flight through the Bladnoch product suite.

The 8 year old is part of the “Double Maturation” collection which is basically their collection of finishes before bottling. The 8 year old is a red wine cask finish and from the tasting notes to follow its a pretty fresh and vibrant cask finish as well.

Bottled at 46.7% this is available in some places but probably mostly only on the Bladnoch website from a quick look around the main online retailers. One thing to remember about these little cool sample drams is on the reverse of the tag below there is a QR code to get the cost of the sample (£6 for this one) off a purchase of a full bottle on the distillery shop. This is a nice touch and I hope it helps shift some decent sales for the distillery.

Tasting Notes

Colour – mahogany red

Nose – Strawberry mousse with the real fruit bits inside. None of the harsh notes of the others we have tried together so far. A slightly weird strawberry Daiquiri if you will

Palate – Immediately nutty and almond. Then the full 8 years of red wine influence hit and for the first time in this exploration of Bladnoch is the cask a forward element in the whisky. Tannic and full bodied Californian fruity wine as well.

Finish – Slightly half concentrating on the whisky and half on the conversation I actually just thought there that I was drinking an easy going red and not a whisky. Not sure that’s ever happened to me before.

Final Thoughts

This is the first one so far I would buy. The Alinta was punchy in its £89 price tag but this one around £50 ish is more acceptable to my wallet. I would spend that on an 8 year old Bruichladdich and this is maybe even a better dram.