My holidays mostly take place in our own country, even before the pandemic. There’s so much to discover in this small piece on earth (the Netherlands, that is). There’s one tradition I try to maintain, and that is the tradition of finding a good liquor store to buy me a couple of whiskies that I don’t usually see when buying locally or online. Most shops let you try, which makes it even more special (and easy) to buy some great new bottles.

And so I once stranded in Harderwijk, a beautiful little harbour town in the center of the Netherlands. The store is called The Butler and the owner admitted he doesn’t know much about whisky, but he has some good consultants in the form of local whiskylovers. Maybe you guys read this, I’d like to say: good job! The owner gave me a glass and put me in front of a cabinet of samples. If that doesn’t come close to heaven…

I bought a couple of bottles I liked from what I’ve tasted and then I noticed these bottles from a fairly new Dutch bottler: 3006 whisky. Knowing myself and my palate, I can always make some sort of calculated guess on how something would taste. Distillery x Strength x Cask type x Chill-filltration x Age x Reputation of the bottler and so on. I went to buy this 11yo Linkwood, which has finished on an oloroso octave, here’s how it tastes:

The strawberry and tobacco notes are definitely Linkwood, but there are many other interesting notes. What mostly stood out, were the peaty and tarry hints, along with the stranger notes of bread, rye and brown beer, they go along well with the more fruity notes.

Not a very clean dram, but a great bottle nonetheless! Do you know this bottler? Or have you tried any Linkwoods?