K&L Exclusive Speyside Single Casks: Exceptionally Rare, Age-Stated Collectibles – Scotch Whisky News
K&L Exclusive Rare Collectibles for the Scotch Fanatic
2002 Speyside from Linkwood and 28-year-old Glenfarclas
This offer is exemplary of the core of our spirits program. Once again, the relationships our buyers have cultivated across the pond have paid off in spades. These two impeccably aged, single casks come to us from two of Scotland’s best hidden gems. First up, we have a splendid 2002 Speyside from Linkwood. Anyone in the know realizes the rare-as-hen’s-teeth status of this whisky—this distillery is almost never found on the open market, especially at this age statement, as Diageo typically uses the product as a core component in their blended whiskies. Subtle peat is the name of the game here, accented by licorice, honey, and citrus notes that show just how complex this dram has become with age.
Just as rare, and perhaps even more so, is the 28-year-old Glenfarclas single cask from what our spirits team considers to be Speyside’s best distillery, an incredible, family-owned operation that almost never sells their stocks on the open market. This is decidedly on the opulent side, not a surprise given all that time in cask. The true shock is the price—well under $200 for a nearly 30-year-old single cask. Deals like these will become exceedingly rare in the coming years, so collectors will surely want to jump at this opportunity, as it’s far from certain when we’ll see such an offer again.
2002 Linkwood 18 Year Old “Old Malt Cask” K&L Exclusive Single Hogshead Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) ($99.99)*These items are expected to arrive for pickup or delivery by late summer 2021
The splendid Linkwood Distillery is truly the unsung hero of the Diageo portfolio. While we wonder desperately why they won’t bother to sell it regularly as a single malt, we’re constantly reminded that the core blends represent the vast majority of their profits and this is such a crucial element in those products that risking their integrity by marketing a single malt version is not good business. We luckily have access to the occasional barrel from our sources in Scotland and we rarely say no to Linkwood. The distillery was founded in 1821, but didn’t start production until 1825. In 1971 a second distillery was built and operated on the same site and dubbed Linkwood “B”. The two distilleries operated concurrently until the late ’80s when one or both were mothballed, but by the early ’90s they were each running again. Both operated via steam heat and together have a capacity of close to 2.5 million gallons per year. It seems that both distilleries continue to operate in tandem, with a total of 6 stills (3 wash and 3 spirit). Expect the classic Linkwood character, full of fruit, pure maltiness and the tiniest tingle of peat. Drops of licorice, heather, honey, citrus are welcome. At full strength it’s great, but could still stand to have a drop or two of nice spring water added to open up the rich inviting aromas of this special malt. An exceptional value and safe bet for that pure unadulterated old style Speyside character.
The wonderful family-owned distillery in Ballindaloch virtually never sells whisky to the independent bottling market, and on the rare instances they do they are quite careful to cover their legal tracks so their name may not be used on the bottle. When we were offered a parcel of casks from what we believe to be Speyside’s best distillery (subject to debate, yes, but are they near the top of the list, without question) we jumped and bought every single one of them. If you snagged a bottle in 2020 of the similarly named whiskies, this is the remainder of that same parcel. This exceptional whisky is bottled under the Old Malt Cask banner and comes from a refill cask with just enough character to frame the gorgeous 28 year old malt. Flavors dance between northern latitude stone fruit and golden apple, and the more tropical coconut and pineapple realm.
