Linkwood 13yo Thompson Bros
2010 vintage single cask, bottled 2023 | 54.6% ABV
Building Trust
We hope you feel you can trust the output you might read here on Dramface. I mean, ultimately you should know that it’s flawed, just like any other source for whisky guidance. It suffers from subjective bias and individual perspectives, but it is absolutely earnest in its intention. And we should recognise that perspectives and bias are often products of experience.
Dramface is a site built to allow impassioned, invested whisky sippers an outlet - a place to share real experiences with the liquid they’re enjoying. And, through genuine effort and investment, the team behind the site is responsible for getting that content in front of as many eyes as possible. In this way, we hope to build genuine relevance for whisky botherers, wherever they may find themselves. With over 120,000 views per month we’re growing, and we hope there’s lots of growth left for us in future.
However, we don’t really chase numbers. In fact, we don’t at all. But we do monitor them to make sure our efforts are finding traction - we need reassurance that we are indeed relevant and the stats behind the site are one of the sources for such.
We use other metrics too: things such as active members/subscribers, what kind of engagement we enjoy from email newsletters, perhaps how many have taken a moment to hit the like emoji at the bottom of each article, or the extra step of leaving a comment or interaction for the writer or team - all of these are valid indicators. Often, though, numbers are actually simply a measure of what’s popular.
That’s very different from what’s relevant.
Writing about popular stuff would be very hard for us to sustain: big brands, hyped bottles, limited releases, mass-market focus - all of these would send the stats soaring, but would ultimately leave the team a bit jaded. Either because they’re pricey, hard to get or already well-represented on the whisky internetz. Mostly though, it’s because they’re often, well, boring. And, if we only chased the bling and the big, we’d get spotted and we’re not sure you’d trust us. We’d quickly be a different team.
For our team and our model, it’s much, much easier to write about something that fires our inspiration. And that could literally be anything.
If we were funded through ads, we’d certainly be motivated by traffic spikes. Inevitably, chasing those would change the content. You wouldn’t be reading what the writer actually wants to write about - you’d be reading what the metrics demand.
I share all of this in the hope everyone can better understand the structure of the site, that it does indeed build a sense of trust. It matters less what the content is or how much of it there is, what matters is that it’s genuine. No one would do this for commercial profit, believe me, but it’s working and easily covering its raw costs. The costs in hours of generating the content and keeping the site ticking over, let’s just say we’re not there - yet.
Recently, the team has been a little quieter than usual. Our daily readers will notice this because we’ve skipped a day or two. It’s better to simply take a break than to force output. Also, in the milder months everyone tends to slow their whisky consumption, we see this reflected in those same website stats, where things settle to a more static line of engagement. Typically, it’s winter that sees growth. Again we mention just for interest; we don’t ever design content around the summer lull or the Christmas holiday boom. The writers simply present what they fancy, when they fancy.
And anyway, with close to a thousand reviews already, there’s a rich vein of back-catalogue to mine these days; we can promote a throwback article while we ready a fresh piece.
If you understand our motivations, I hope it’s easier for you to interpret what we share. We can agree or disagree and fall everywhere in between, but ultimately, you know it’s all shared with absolute best intentions. It’s here I get to my point today; I think yet another ‘metric’ of this whole place is how much we, as a writing and editorial team, end up inspiring each other.
Last week, Murdo got his geek on about one of his favoured distilleries; Linkwood. He shared a flight of four different independent releases and declared his love for the often ignored workhorse. Inspired by his notes, that very next evening, I headed to the eclectic Linkwood stash in the pit.
Discovering it to be not as well stocked as the picture in my head, I poured myself a dram of a Flora & Fauna 12yo; Diageo’s semi-official release at 43%. I enjoyed it very much indeed. Perhaps more than I have ever before. Reading over the words from Murdo I found many of his notes, especially the grapefruit citrus and bright top-notes.
Looking forward to a certain sports event that night, I headed back to the shelf for a highly anticipated second pour. All the while I was thinking about this whole concept of trust in everything we do, how it leads us here at Dramface and how we’re very often leading each other.
It was then I spotted a forgotten bottle. Interestingly, one I’d bought but hadn’t tried, hadn’t read a review for, and hadn’t been recommended. Why on earth did I spend £70 blind?
Well, again, trust.
Trust in the spirit from Linkwood? Yes - just like Murdo. But this purchase was much more in the trust of how it’s presented, specifically by the Brothers fae Dornoch.
Review
Linkwood 2010 13yo, Thompson Bros, 2023 release, refill bourbon hogshead, 331 bottles, 54.6% ABV
£70 paid. Scarce, but still some availability
As Murdo was able to demonstrate somewhat, Linkwood is relatively plentiful and is therefore heavily played with.
This is fine, of course it is. Some are looking for a sherry bomb; such as an Adelphi Laudale Linkwood. Others are after a deviation theme; I have an old Creative Whisky Co. Port cask and a Murray McDavid Madeira for such distractions, both finishes, all good and they certainly both have their place. But the theme from Murdo’s article; searching for the alluring and pure underlying spirit, was what I was after.
Spotting the lost Thompson Bros bottle there, at 54.6% ABV after 13 years in a refill hogshead, felt like I was being offered an entrée after the Flora & Fauna amuse-bouche. Or akin to finding a washed £20 note in a jeans pocket.
Excitedly I grabbed some photos, knowing I was likely to write about all of this. Camera in-hand, and eager to get stuck in, I tucked the napkin into my collar and ripped the foil. The first sip was a great start and exactly what the mood demanded.
After grabbing a couple more half-assed images, I headed for the sofa - taking the bottle too; fully trusting I’d be pouring another. I also took my tasting notebook.
Nose
Pine needles, vinous and resiny. Floral with white lilies and an oak-aged Chardonnay vibe. There’s underripe pineapple, gooseberries and shortbread. A sense of atomised perfume or hairspray.
Palate
Unctuous and tart with cooking apples and lemon juice. A little green chilli. The oakiness continues on the palate with a waxy, wood polish-theme and bitter citrus (Murdo’s grapefruit!), some icing sugar and mint leaf, with a medium, drying and acidic finish. Clean, sharp and moreish.
With a little water, just a few drops at a time, the perfume-y floral notes spike, before being rounded out with a little sweetness. It takes water very well.
The Dregs
I didn’t take any tasting notes on the evening the bottle was opened and pictured. My book and pen lay idle.
I was distracted by such a difficult to watch sports spectacle that I’d really rather not dwell upon it. But I did enjoy more pours from the bottle. It accompanied the build-up beautifully. Alas, it couldn’t salve the horror of the unfolding event. Anyway, this isn’t a football site. And I’m noticing I’ve hardly spoken about the bottle of whisky.
In the end it doesn’t matter because, truth be told, this piece isn’t all about this specific whisky. As you’ll sometimes see throughout Dramface, there’s a preamble that often takes priority over a review. We sometimes like to use a bottle to simply inspire thoughts or words. Sometimes they land and we make a point; if I’m writing, often not. But we try to articulate our joys and frustrations at the pursuit of whisky. This specific scenario today has made me reflect positively.
Coming back to the glasses I’ve had since cracking this beautiful Speysider, it’s a very typical and straight-down-the-line Linkwood, with a little extra; something difficult to put a finger on, but it makes it effortlessly drinkable. It’s a florality, a delicacy and a purity rolled into one tightly-strung and focused whisky. It does display something extra along with a profile that’s right up my street.
I’d like to consider why it’s a standout from the Linkwood crowd. So firstly, let’s have a wee think about our other possible visits we might make to pick up some of this Diageo distillate.
Douglas Laing has had us covered over the years, for sure, often less than £50 through their Provenance selection. SMWS rarely miss an opportunity to release one, sometimes more. To not mention the incredible output from Signatory Vintage through their Un-chillfiltered Series would be remiss indeed: always well-priced, unfettered and pure. There are also solid recent releases from James Eadie too: either single cask and their Small Batch 46% range. As mentioned, this is plentiful and, to be honest, there are very few indies who haven’t dabbled in a Linkwood or two.
So after we’ve factored in our cask preferences, they’re unlikely to be risky purchases, but it’s often the case that these are either a little pedestrian or a bit shouty; maybe either safe-but-boring or perhaps flavourful but a bit cask-led or youthful, as Murdo discovered last week. Oftentimes, there’s a Linkwood in the outturn just to make up the numbers and, upon sampling, there’s a sense of FITD*.
Trust is built over multiple purchases, regardless of the distillate. In time we get a sense of which independent bottlers are those who can truly be relied upon, to the point we don’t always feel the need to try first or to canvass trusted sources. One of those is most definitely the Thompson Brothers. In my experience, there’s a genuine sense that everything is either good, very good or bloody brilliant - before it’s put anywhere near a bottle.
I know for many it takes effort to get a hold of, and their ballot-led loyalty scheme can seem a little obfuscating. However, I’m assured that with a little effort to establish yourself as a genuine trusted drinker and sharer, you can bound up the loyal-punter perception charts with ease, snagging their own distillate along with tasty bottles such as this - if you’re within reach of shipping zones. I’m sure this positive review will help me hugely. Except, ah… they don’t know who I am. So you know I’m saying this for the benefit of you, as a reader only.
In all seriousness, such trust has been built over the releases to date from the Dynamic Dornoch Duo that I’m relaxed to the point of giddiness at blindly handing over the cash for whatever I fancy carrying their name. I bought this direct from an independent retailer. There’s still stock out there.
Circling back to the opening of this article, this is exactly opposite to the kind of release that can leave our writing team jaded. It’s the perfect bottle of whisky to inspire writing, encouraging people to try it, all the while building more of that confidence and trust; metrics and stats be damned.
I’m privileged to find myself in locked-orbit with trusting pals and Dramface peers as we spin in the gravitational pull of consensus towards places that deliver; places such as Linkwood, the Thompson Brothers, Dramface.
The binding energies for all of these aren’t the gravities of fanboy-ish devotion or blind brand-loyalty, rather they are consistency, reassurance and trust.
Score: 7/10
*established Dramface etiquette prevents me from sharing what this acronym actually stands for, so let’s go with Forget It That’ll Do.
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. WMc