Welcome back to another fine side-by-side tasting of two single malts to really tease out those tiny details and then pick a favourite. With that in mind, I try to pick “comparable” whiskies by being very similar in many categories (style, age, barrel, ABV, etc.) and slightly different in others. In today’s pairing, we have the third dram from That Boutique-y Whisky Company‘s (TBWC) Advent Calendar for 2022, and it’s a Linkwood 11-year-old single malt, which is [apparently] exclusive to this box set. I was initially going to put it against the 12-year-old Balvenie Single Barrel [I still may, on the side], but I decided against it. I’ve recently tasted it again and, at the last minute, selected a slightly older Mortlach for reasons I’ll explain later. Also, I’ve previously covered a pairing of Mortlach vs Balvenie [and you can read that post to see who won the round]. Thus, everything should fall within that context. So, let’s get on with this, but first, we need music! Now playing: The Future Sound of London – Rituals E7.001.

Okay, so I’m going to start with a sip of that Balvenie Single Barrel as a baseline to prepare my tastebuds using something I’m already familiar with. It will also set the stage for all the alcohol and desensitise my tongue a bit for the first official dram. I’m not going to describe the Balvenie – you can read all about it in the two posts I’ve linked above. I will still say that it’s nice and clean and well-balanced with aromas of vanilla, stewed bananas, and fresh green apples. But let’s move on to that Linkwood! Presented at a respectable 48.2% ABV by TBWC, this independent bottling is uncoloured and non-chill filtered [and thus gets my “integrity” star]. It is very light in colour, somewhere between white wine and pale straw. The bottle doesn’t specify the ageing process, but from the colour alone, I would guess it’s from a refill ex-bourbon cask. There are more of those green apples on the nose, slight lemon zest, sweet cereal, and a wind of a fragrant spring meadow. I can tell you that it has more umami on the palate [than the Balvenie], but it’s still a pretty thin-tasting dram with a medium finish. Linkwood is a hidden gem of a distillery in Speyside (on the outskirts of Elgin). It is owned by Diageo, who uses its output for blending, and is almost never released on its own. The only time we saw an official distillery bottling was when it was released as part of the Flora and Fauna series [initially launched in 1991] to showcase the lesser-known whiskies from the conglomerate’s portfolio. The rest was sold to other blenders and, as is the case with today’s tasting, independent bottlers. Incidentally, my very first taste of the Mortlach single malt was also courtesy of the Flora and Fauna series, and I still have a bottle of it in my collection. Diageo now releases the official distillery-bottled Mortlach, while Linkwood is still a “connoisseur’s delight”.

This particular bottle of Mortlach is from the Special Releases collection of 2021. This is when Diageo dips into its vast portfolio of owned distilleries and bottles some lesser-known ones [and prevalent ones, like Lagavulin] at cask strength [and sometimes a hefty price]. For example, the 2022 edition of Mortlach was a non-age statement (NAS) single malt, sold for £250 (what?), while I purchased this 2021 Mortlach a year ago at £135. I’m not sure if there is colouring in this bottle, but it is non-chill filtered and bottled at a cask strength of 55.9% ABV. Dubbed “The Beast of Dufftown“, this single malt depicts the wolf for the “Legends Untold” inspired series. Since this Scotch is a few degrees stronger, I’ll try it neat before bringing it down to the lower ABV. Let’s go for the nose first. It has a less floral fragrance and more woodsy notes here, that’s for sure. And on the palate, it is more complex but slightly bitter on the edges as it tries to retain the sweetness, which is more like manuka honey. With water, it still delivers all that flavour while holding all that texture in its oils. I’ll pause, refresh with a sip of San Pellegrino and go back in reverse this time. The two single malts have a very similar nose. If I had to pick out a slight difference, I would say that Linkwood is a tad fresher with its fruit, while Morlach is a little darker and more on the stewed side. And don’t forget that Mortlach is a few years older. Let’s go in for a taste. There is that bitterness [the sulfur?] on the finish of the Mortlach – but it is nothing to complain about, as it folds nicely with the rest. The Linkwood now is lighter, more bananas, just as sweet as Mortlach, but there’s no bitterness to complain of at all. [I taste the Balvenie at the very end, and it’s very different now, a bit diluted with a slightly “chemical” taste as if it has been filtered through a heavy-detergent-laundered shirt. Oh, how things change in time, in context, and relative to one another!].

Distillery / Region	Linkwood / Speyside	Mortlach / Speyside
Producer	Diageo	Diageo
Bottler / Series	That Boutique-y Whisky Company / Exclusive to Advent 2022 Calendar	Distillery bottling / Diageo Special Releases 2021
Stated Age / Vintage	11 years old	13 years old
Cask type	undisclosed	Virgin and Refill American Oak
ABV / Cask Strength	48.2% / ???	55.9% / Yes!
Non-chill filtered/ Uncoloured	Yes / Yes 🌟	Yes / No (?)
Price	unavailable as a standalone	£135

So there you have it, folks, another awesome pairing. Especially between these two, showcasing Speyside malts, which used to be behind the scenes of Diageo’s collection. I’m pretty happy with these two and must admit that Mortlach doesn’t disappoint. However, Linkwood seems to just deliver without the extra strength and that bitterness I spoke of at the end. Since this is an exclusive dram for the TBWC’s Advent Calendar, I do not know its price. However, a different batch of the same aged Linkwood by Boutique-y goes for only about £45 quid [at the time of this writing], and that is literally a third (!!!) of the cost of Mortlach. With that said, I will proclaim TBWC’s Linkwood 11-year-old as the winner of this round, and yes, I like it even more than the Balvenie. Now let’s go find that Flora and Fauna bottle for next time!