Bladnoch Vinaya Review
Following his recent feature about ‘four of the best Bladnoch whiskies, Philip Day looks closely at Bladnoch Vinaya and provides his tasting notes.
In my recent feature discussing Bladnoch whiskies, I made reference to the distillery’s Vinaya expression, a Galloway spirit, non-chill filtered and natural in colour. Having tasted this whisky, the product of expert cask selection by Bladnoch’s Master Distiller, Dr Nick Savage, I have compiled my tasting notes and present them below.
Bladnoch Vinaya – personal tasting notes
- Nose: A strongly layered mixture of earthy notes with a healthy cereal and grassy characteristics and sweet barley sugar, infused with aromas of citrus and tart apple notes.
- Taste: A pleasant hit of deliciously gentle barley sugar sweetness combined with a light fresh taste of ripe green apples and background elements of milk chocolate and vanilla with vibrant hints of peppery oak spices, accompanied by the grassy notes all help create a dram of substance.
- Finish: As earlier hints of earthiness and the sweeter honeyed notes fade, the chocolate and vanilla elements come forward with delicious peppery notes before allowing notes of slightly drying oak to have the final word.
- To sum up, the maturation period in the first fill sherry and bourbon casks has helped create a very enjoyable Lowland dram. Bladnoch Vinaya is a nicely balanced and classically-structured single malt with a little bit of everything to offer.
- Bladnoch Vinaya: 70cl, 46.7% ABV, priced at £50 / USD $69
All Bladnoch expressions are available at www.bladnoch.com and specialist whisky retailers. Bladnoch Vinaya is also available from Amazon
References
The press release, sample and images were kindly provided by BIG Partnership on behalf of Bladnoch