Linkwood 31 Year Old – Lady Macduff Thanes Series Macbeth Act One (48.2% abv)

Casting this role in Livingstone’s Macbeth series required whisky maker Elixir Distillers to find a single malt of rare elegance and beauty. This vatting of four ex-bourbon barrels from Linkwood distillery proves the perfect embodiment of the ill-fated Lady Macduff. The nose shows all the flowers, citrus and white fruit characteristic of Linkwood, while the palate harbours hidden depths suggestive of its inspiration’s strength and resolve. An exceptionally fine Speyside malt.

Lady Macduff is one of 12 noble malts chosen to portray The Thanes in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Each bottling in the series features artwork by Sir Quentin Blake who has reimagined this immortal cast of characters as birds, all rendered in his inimitable style.

Joe Rogers (The Whisky Exchange)
NOSE
Intensely fragrant with lemon balm, iris and spearmint then fresh chalky blanc de blancs Champagne, ripe peaches, cloudy lemonade and fresh linens.
PALATE
Nicely concentrated red apples and pears. Apricot juice, lemon tart with short buttery pastry, dry perry, rose petals, vanilla custard. A little bit of warmth like hot honey lingers on the back of the palate.
FINISH
Long, elegant and pleasantly dry with more white flowers, pears and vanilla.
OBSERVATIONS
Very fresh for more than three decades in oak. An excellent example of the distillery character that perfectly conveys what this project is all about. This is liquid storytelling.