Bladnoch 1977

Better on the palate than on the nose - not bad

A friend brought back a lineup of samples from the old & rare show London 2020. Amazing to be able to try these drams. These are the results: (keep in mind these are tiny samples, just enough to get an impression) 1st: 1968 Ardmore 20yr Signatory dumpy (6439) 94pts 2nd: 1977 Bladnoch 23yr (273) 92pts 2nd: Dalmore 20yr bottled 1960s (39949) 92pts 4th: 1992 Clynelish 26yr Hidden Spirits (125978) 90pts 5th: Ainslie’s 12yr bottled 1960s? (64557) 88pts 6th: 1974 Ledaig private cask 27yr 87pts 7th 1974 Caol Ila 21yr Signatory dumpy (38207) 78pts A bit of a divisive Rare Malt, it seems. A thick honey note that seems to elude modern whisky. Wildflower honey, pinesap, fresh mint, vanilla bean, yellow fruit, a little menthol even. Fat spirit. I don’t get any cheesy notes others seem to find, but it’s a small sample... in the mouth, great honey, yellow fruits galore, waxy, juicy fruit, comic strip bubblegum, crisp mint, wow love that. Finishes with notes of hemp, juicy fruit, more honey, mint and wax. Really my style, I like it a lot. 92/100

Smell ---------------------- 91 Flavor--------------------91 End rhyme--------------------91

Blind Tasting: August 2022

A very pleasant and inviting nose, with notes of white sugar pancakes, melon, peach, and lime. White pepper, candied ginger, and pineapple. On the palate, very clean, vintage Rare Malt, white peach, peppery, overripe fruit, Riesling, a hint of cinnamon, and a touch of heat. A long finish, with notes of flint, cola bottles, and a pleasant bitterness. A superb Bladnoch from a very good vintage!

[April, 2017] Another head-to-head tasting day, this time two 23-years old Bladnoch against each other - a 1966 SV (WB id 20009)) versus this 1977 Rare Malt edition. All in all two very fine Bladnoch with different profiles. Very interesting to see how the distillery character changed over just one decade. But this was the decade with the most changes to the production processes in all Scottish distilleries (switching from direct firing to steam coils, abandoning own floor maltings and more).

purebred whisky with its own character. Very solid and assembled, a pleasure

Once I found a place where I could taste that kinda stuff. I took a nip and was pleasantly surprised by it. A nice Lowland style, with a little Highland Kick in it The grassy, lemony, somewhat oaky peaty aroma`s and flavors gave it something special. Now Bladnoch belongs to an Irishman and he takes the distillery to its fullest potential

J&B stall Old & Rare 2020. very elegant and tasty bladnoch. 8/10. short notes follow

A rare and aged bottling from Diageo's time.

Light bodied and with finesse.

Give this one time and it is really rewarding if a little rough round the edges.

22+ 23+ 22 23 91 Floral honey fruity awesome Whisky! Yes, the old Bladnoch is not new to you at all. I hope the modern Bladnoch will someday be as tasty as this one!

Very sharp and bright, a lot of fresh fruit.

1. It feels like a pure bourbon barrel. 2. One can feel the familiar profile of Bladnokh only in an empty glass. A fine, complex, multi-layered, complex whisky. The aroma is unusually weak, but the taste brightly "explodes" in the mouth, ending with a persistent tannic aftertaste interspersed with tropical fruits. One drop of water just blew this whisky! This whisky definitely deserves your attention! 23 23 22 21

I originally had this pegged at 86, but a second tasting made me think 87 is more like it. In the lineup it was served to me this bottle was the king for both me and the large majority of the tasters, being superlative compared to anything coming out with the name Bladnoch in the new millennium. If only the new Talia bottlings were like this, but alas... Tasted in this lineup of Bladnoch: 10yo Flora & Fauna (83), 11yo Distillery Label from the Armstrong period (79), 12yo Single Cask #39 (77), 12yo Single Cask #40 (78), 13yo Single Cask #420 (82), 20yo 1990 cask #5338 (84), Rare Malts 23yo 1977 (87), and 8yo Heavily Peated 50ppm cask #7 (78).

Floral honey, tropical fruits, yellow plums, vanilla, oak, herbal bitters, quite fat, rich, enveloping, peppery warming note is especially noticeable on the finish, but it does not interfere - on the contrary. 22.5-22.5-23-23

At first it is green tea with jasmine, then it warms up and turns into a bag of cereals that you carried on your back for a long time. After this is ready-made cooked oatmeal. Yeast, rising dough, a little whey, from which Caucasian cheeses are made. And some Alpine meadows. Then he starts to give in: lollipops, burnt sugar, cotton candy, sweetener, caramel.

Best Bladnoch I've had so far. The nose is what immediately stands out to me. Peach Yoghurt, key lime pie. Quite fruity with a hint of jam mixed with cream cheese. Solid bottle.

Musty dunnage and clean citrus offered slightly contradictory impressions. Hay and dried grass, fresh lemons, creamy butter, and a touch of lamp oil were joined by grease, cream biscuits, vanilla, ginger, and digestive biscuits— pastry making in a clean barn? Medium-bodied on the palate, the profile was oily, spicy, and a touch funky at the end. Herbal and green with tobacco, mustard leaf, peppercorns, citrus rind, and more ginger biscuits. With time more newspaper, coffee grounds, and fermenting herbs. The finish was medium to long and drying with citrus, tea pot dregs, and black pepper. This had plenty of the old-fashioned notes I expect from a 1970s malt, and retained a good bit of the spice and spirit of the Rare Malts releases. It had none of the funkier and odder aspects I associate with Bladnoch in the 1990s or thereafter, so it felt cleaner and safer than I expected. There were few eccentricities here, though it was still an interesting whisky. Overall, a surprisingly quaffable Rare Malts.

Typical Rare Malt profile in my view. Sharp and citric. However this Bladnoch had a sweet vanilla edge on the palate which is very enjoyable. Tnx Janou for sharing this bottle together!

nice RM, thanks Martin!

0.25 left opened for 6 days Glassware: Lehmann Colour: Gold