🥃 Linkwood

Linkwood is a distillery and single malt Scotch whisky brand on the outskirts of Elgin in Speyside, beside the River Lossie. It was founded by Peter Brown, factor of the Linkwood estate: Whiskypedia gives 1821 and production from 1824, while Difford's Guide gives 1825. The distillery is owned by Diageo, and blenders rate its whisky highly.

History. In 1874 the founder's son, William Brown, rebuilt the distillery entirely. In 1932 it joined the Distillers Company. In the early 1970s a second distillery with four stills was built opposite the old buildings; the old one was stopped in 1985 and later used by Diageo for trials with copper, reflux and worm tubs. In 2012 the old buildings were demolished and new stills and washbacks were added.

How it is made. The malt is unpeated and fermentation lasts about 75 hours; the water comes from the Millbuies spring. Capacity, according to Whiskypedia, is over 5.5 million litres a year, while Difford's Guide gives 5.6 million. Sources differ on the number of stills and washbacks after 2012.

The range. An official bottling is rare: the main release is the 12-year-old in the Flora & Fauna series. Linkwood is often released by independent bottlers, including Gordon & MacPhail, often from sherry casks. In the late 1990s Linkwood was considered as the Speyside representative in the Classic Malts series.

Why this matters to you. Demand for Linkwood has long exceeded supply, because most of the spirit goes into blends. Independent bottlings are the same distillery's whisky but with different casks, ages and strength, so read the label. The WHO reminds us: there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.