Bladnoch Adela 15 Year Old / Sherry Cask
Gruyère
0 574
Review by @markjedi1
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall74
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When David Prior – who made his fortune selling yoghurt – took over Bladnoch in 2015, some 2500 casks of maturing whisky were included in the deal. This Adela is composed with casks that matured for at least 15 years. American oak and Spanish oloroso casks have held the spirit for that long. Adela is synonymous with ‘noble’.
The nose is a lot more pleasant that the Samsara, with dark and sweet notes of cherries and almond cake, but again it has this edge that I am not very fond of. Some sulpher, that slowly but surely turns into baby pu… well, let’s call it baby breath in this case. It’s not so bad. But I do get distinct notes of sweaty feet. Gruyère cheese! Surely, that should not be there… Some lemon grass and oranges peel, thank the maker. But I am not convinced;
The body is good, creamy and round, but the taste is immediately piquant on nutmeg and pepper, camphor and… oh, my… the dark and sweet fruit has only just reached the surface when a big bitterness kicks in from the wood tannins. Overpowering.
The finish is fairly long, but too bitter to be pleasant.
What is going on with Bladnoch? Both the Samsara and this Adela are really not up to standard. They are too dirty, but in an unpleasant way. The little dark and sweet beauty that this spirit was given by the oloroso casks, is immediately snuffed out by sulpher and tannins, making this astringent and dry. Around 115 EUR. No, thanks.
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I don't understand... Armstrong's stuff (albeit not as old because he got shut down) was high quality. Even the one bottle that seemed a little off improve with time.
I note the ABV is much lower than many of Armstrong's bottlings. I wonder if they re-casked some of the spirit and did it poorly, or whether there were issues in maturation after the distillery went into receivership.