ABV: 50 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is dark fruits and peat. At first there’s a quite sweet mix of dark fruits and fresh red berries with leather and tobacco notes attached. In the background there are assorted tropical fruits and a lemon sourness. There’s a peppermint layer floating around on top and just underneath some vanilla as well. It’s a powerful nose. The peatiness comes through mostly as the tobacco and leather notes, which are attached to the port notes as well. There’s a campfire smokiness in there too. It seems very stable and the different layers really don’t move or mix. This is a very nice nose, but the whole seems a bit divided.

Mouth: It starts out with a sweetness and an ABV punch before it starts to deliver the other flavours. When it does, there’s a long row of things queueing up. Dried fruits (both dark and yellow), dust, malt, floral notes (mainly violets), lemon, baking and cooking spices are some of the starting notes. It’s not as peaty as on the nose and the tobacco and leather notes are really pushed back at this point. The campfire smokiness can be found on the edges. When it settles the violet notes are very much in focus with the rest of the flavours backing it up. It’s a very pleasant experience at this point.

Finish: The spicyness becomes black pepper and spreads out through the transition. It soon gets pushed away by the floral notes, again with violets up front. It almost feels a bit soapy at this point, which is less than ideal. It does shift towards the darker notes as well as the fresher fruitiness which saves it. It’s a long finish and it takes a while for the oakiness to appear. It’s a slightly dry and dusty oakiness and it feels a bit underwhelming. The peatiness has basically disappeared but there are still campfire smokiness and vanilla notes on the sides. This is a very good whisky. It has a lot of blemishes, but it’s still very drinkable.

Additional information
This whisky was aged 12 years in american and spanish oak and then finished for about 2 years in ex- bordeaux wine claret casks.

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