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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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September 9, 2026 |
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WF's rarest Little Duos,
today Cardhu 2016 |
Incredible, Cardhu (and Glenfiddich) were once amongst the very first Scottish malts we could easily find in France, back when we were literally drowning in big-brand blends that no sensible person would have contemplated tasting without a tonne of ice and Coca-Cola. And now? Finding just two Cardhus for a wee session has become something of a Stations of the Cross. How times change, although whether they improve is another matter. But since we make a point of regularly tasting every distillery, well, we always get there in the end. So, we were saying, two Cardhus… |
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Cardhu 9 yo 2016/2026 (52.4%, James Eadie, Distilleries of Great Britain & Ireland, 1st fill bourbon hogshead, 659 bottles) 
Colour: full gold. Nose: a bouquet of faded flowers, lawn grass, hay, ripe apples, rose petals and wee pears. Cardhu has been kind of promoted as a ‘feminine’ malt in recent years through its female co-founder, Helen Cuming, wife of license-holder John Cumming. Well… Still, there is indeed something rather… feminine here, if we may risk the word, with fine touches of floral hairspray. With water: straw, hay, apple and pear peel, melon skin, and all that. Mouth (neat): the malt is light but those 52.4% do make themselves felt, watch out! Farmhouse cider, pepper, green tea, apples, very light rubber and rapeseed oil… With water: very light candy sugar, apple and honey tart, a pinch of white pepper, all that works really well and, above all, it’s very ‘Cardhu’. Finish: not that short, with a lovely trio of cinnamon, praline and malty beer, then some ginger to sign it all off. Comments: I really like this, and I’m happy to be adding some Cardhu to WF, that’s all.
SGP:451 - 84 points. |
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Cardhu 10 yo 2016/2026 (58.4%, Signatory Vintage, Cask Strength Collection, refill hogshead, cask #1132, 318 bottles)
It’s really rather splendid that Signatory have all these names that have become more obscure, at least amongst the malterattis. It’s almost an archivist’s job, shall we say… Colour: chardonnay, so lighter. Nose: it’s naturally close, but softer and rounder, with a box of finger biscuits, pear and quince jelly, acacia honey and honeysuckle. It’s really soft, light, elegant… With water: moving a little more towards quince paste and bergamot. Which can only please us. Mouth (neat): madeleines, orange cake, angelica, grapefruit. The grapefruit takes it into increasingly lively and sharp territories, which happened rather less with the previous one. With water: it becomes greener and greener, even tart, with lemon peel. Now that isn’t very ‘Cardhu’, but on the other hand, that was for a long time exactly what we expected from the indies, to offer variations, sometimes very far removed from the OBs, sometimes even frankly deviant. Finish: long and sharp as a well-kept sabre. Green pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: tasted blind, I’d have said Glendullan, or Glen Spey, but never Cardhu. Lovely, nonetheless.
SGP:461 - 84 points. |
Conclusion: these indies really are no small beer, and they’re a very long way indeed from today’s very, very gentle OBs. As far as I can remember… Right, our next goal, two lovely Knockandos! But where on earth has Knockando gone?... |
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