ABV: 50 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is a mix of sweet and salty. At first there’s a layer of honey and vanilla with a mild cloud of peppermint on top. The base consists of coastal notes, like seaweed and salty ocean air. It’s not especially fruity, but there is a hint of citrus fruits floating around somewhere in between together with a slightly perfumey floral notes. The nose is very consistant over time and it doesn’t evolve too much in the glass.

Mouth: It starts out with a sour tang, but soon becomes savory. It feels rowdy and a bit rough around the edges, but in a very good way. There’s tar, motoroil and coastal notes, which are still very much in focus. It’s not as sweet as on the nose and the honey and vanilla notes move out towards the edges. There’s a bitter oakiness coming through and after a few seconds there’s a black pepper spicyness starting to build up. With time there’s a bitter black liquorice emerging from the back.

Finish: The savory notes are first to appear and they are accompanied by peppermint and brine. It’s very salty, but it starts to lean away from the coastal notes and lean more towards a herbaceous character. It takes a second or two for the oakiness to arrive, but when it does it packs a punch. It becomes very pronounced in the finish. It’s a nice oakiness and it feels genuine and almost like it’s coming from a ship wreck, since it’s mixed with the savory and salty notes. This is a great, albeit young, whisky which doesn’t cater for people who want an easy sipping experience. This is rough around the edges, and that’s a very good thing.

Additional information
The Classic Laddie is mainly aged in first and second fill american ex-bourbon casks. There’s also a couple of ex-wine casks in the mix. The batch of the tested bottle is 19/192.

If you like my reviews and wish to offer a small donation, please click the ”donate” button below!