Serge Valentin (WhiskyFun.com) 

Linlithgow 9 yo 1982/1992 (62.6%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, 150th Anniversary)

Yes, a nine-years-old St Magdalene. Oh boy do we love these super-young ‘old’ Cadenheads, especially the Port Ellens and the Linlithgows/St Magdalenes, even if those were not for the faint-hearted…

Colour: white wine.

Nose: raw artisan mezcal, really. Very citric, chalky, and smoky, as in a great cocktail that would contain, well, lime, chalk, and liquid smoke. And a lot of alcohol, of course. Tends to get then super-grassy and leafy, but that’s beautiful. With water: some fusel oil at first, then rather plasticine, raw wool (visiting Islay’s Woollen Mill after a few drams), and a very natural soapiness. Rubbed cow cockle or something. Wonderfully austere and un-sexy – and un-commercial.

Mouth (neat): amazingly lemony, super-blade-y, with a very leafy sootiness (wouldn’t that rather be a sooty leafiness?) and some alcohol that just burns. The heads of some raw Kirschenwasser. Careful with that glass, Eugene… With water: ah, civilisation. Soft lemon squash with a little honey and always quite some ashes and sooty things. Clay and kiwis, perhaps.

Finish: very long, lemony, mineral, and ‘woollen’. Definitely one for the countryside. Sadly, the aftertaste is a little bitter, which makes it lose points. Chewing leaves.

Comments: a very educational whisky and, I think, the youngest St Magdalene I’ve ever tried. Only the finish was a little difficult. SGP:372 - 87 points.