Lindores Abbey The Cask of Lindores II

A distillery bottling of Lindores Abbey, bottled at 49.4%. Lindores Abbey, in Fife, is widely called the spiritual home of Scotch whisky, the place named in the 1494 record of Friar John Cor. The first single malt, MCDXCIV, the Roman numerals for 1494, was released in 2021.

It was drawn off the distillery's copper stills, for a full, fruity make ready for active wood. A bourbon cask held it, keeping the layered fruit to the fore. Active first fill wood pulls colour and flavour quickly into the young Lindores spirit. The abbey ruins still stand beside the modern distillery buildings. The bottle shape is drawn from a 12th century pillar found in the abbey ruins. The 1494 Exchequer Rolls record a Lindores monk making aqua vitae for the king, the earliest written reference to Scotch. Michael Jackson wrote that for the whisky lover Lindores is a pilgrimage. The distillery was built in 2017 by Drew and Helen McKenzie Smith, whose family has held the land since 1913.

At a hearty 49.4% it carries real punch. The ex-Bourbon lends vanilla, orchard fruit and butterscotch. The mouthfeel is full, the fruit carried on a young body. The finish is bright, spiced and warming. This is a characterful young Lowland single malt.