St. Magdalene 1982/2008 Blackadder Raw Cask

Blackadder is an independent bottler with Swedish roots. The Raw Cask Series are bottlings at cask strength and non chill-filtered. Typical is also the fact that part of the sediment from the casks are bottled as well, thus resulting in some black crumbs at the bottom of the bottle. Extraordinary!

I tasted a St Magdalene, from the closed (in 1983) distillery in the Lowlands. The buildings have long since been converted to flats. This whisky was distilled on 30 September 1982 and bottled at the age of 25 years in March 2008.

The nose is very comparable to the Old Malt Cask from Douglas Laing, with citrusy aromas such as oranges and lime. Quite waxy. The high ABV forces you to take a little more time to get through the spiciness and discover the hidden, farmy notes. Adding water makes the nose sweeter and, in my opinion, better.

This whisky is too hot to drink neat. I get primarily white fruit (pears, apples) and (too much) pepper and cloves. There is some lovely pomegranate! After adding some water, it stays creamy, but makes the fruits come out much better.

The (undiluted) finish is warm, lingering and feisty. Diluted it remains lingering, but gets even spicier.

I like this one much better than the official 1970 Rare Malts, but it’s good competition for the 1982 Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask. You could say that this bottle gives you more bang for your buck, due to the higher ABV. But the 1982 DL OMC wins this round on points in my book, thanks to the finish.

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