North Sea Whisky

90’s Bladnoch is essentially a lost style. Having been mothballed in 1993, it was reopened in the year 2000, producing an entirely different distillate. The new Bladnoch tends to be sweeter, with very active casks, and it’s not something I seek out. This old style shows a quirkier, more lactic spirit, of which many excellent and many terrible iterations have been bottled. 

This one shows a tremendous amount of tertiary complexity after 34 years in the cask, and it was one of the better SMWS releases from last year.

Bladnoch 34-year-old (1990) – SMWS 50.120 “Dawn’s Embrace”

Rating: 90 points

First glance: Old gold, glacial legs.

Nose: There is a woody spike running through it initially, which tells us it was probably bottled at just in time – this does calm down and balance out. The nose is soft and inviting, although the aromatic profile is out of the ordinary and not the easiest to wrap your head around. 

Woody-herbal aromas mix with lactic and waxy notes, with fruits in the back. As the forest notes of spruce oil, thyme and lavender recede, revealing a juicy, almost fermentary sourness. Feeling much more like a grape spirit now. I get white grapes, apples and apricots on the sweeter side, balanced with zestier oranges, lemons, and a tasting menu of all kinds of melons and other tropical fruit. With time, gentle elderflower and rose notes show. All of these aspects are deeply integrated into on, constantly evolving aromatic complex – something which only decades of maturation can deliver.

Allowing the nose to settle further covers all of this in a glaze of sticky honey, shifting my attention back to the malt on its earthy and waxy backbone. 

Palate: Relatively light-bodied yet intensely textured, molten wax on the tongue. This texture carries the seemingly endless flavour development. 

We start fruity-sour, with lots of citrus oils, moving into creamier tropical fruits. There’s dunnage wood and pine needles on the forest floor, but slush it around a little bit and you’re back to tropical fruit. Hold it on your tongue for more than thirsty seconds, and we turn to the confectionery notes of white chocolate, vanilla and caramel biscuits. Just on the right side of mentholic.

Finishes coating, earthy, tropical fruity and spicy. There is a lot of tension between the spirit and the wood, which manages to avoid being overbearing.

Conclusion: A powerful and idiosyncratic Bladnoch showcasing the benefits of long maturation. Despite the high abv, I wouldn’t add more than a couple drops of water, as it quickly loses intensity. I’m not sure the name and the label have much to do with the character of the liquid – it’s quite a moody dram.