ABV: 43 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a balanced mix of dark and dried fruits, tobacco and vanilla. There are baking spices and brown sugar as well as dark chocolate. When it settles the whole becomes slightly sweeter and the fruitiness becomes raisins and overripe plums. There’s an elusive soapy floral note coming through from the back and a thin layer of menthol on top. There’s peat coming through, but it feels so integrated within the whole to be a main event at this point. This is a great nose with a balanced profile, minus the soapy note.

Mouth: It starts out with a tobacco and campfire smoke peatiness with fresh red fruits mixed in. There’s a slight cocoa bitterness coating the mouth while the other flavours try to find their place. It’s less sweet than on the nose and it really makes good on its name on impact. The dark fruits are dominating the center with a mix of raisins and overripe black plums. There’s a tropical fruitiness forming in the back together with the soapy floral note, which persists from the nose.

Finish: The transition is just a continuation of the flavours from the mouth. The low ABV is definitively a factor here, but it still feels rich and flavourful. The cocoa bitterness is still coating the mouth and the center part continuosly becomes brighter and fruitier. It’s a big bag of dried tropical fruits and blackberries. The peat and tobacco notes moves out towards the edges and the oak finally gets a chance to peek through. It’s a nice laid back oakiness with a hint of hazelnuts and tropical fruits. The weird soapy note never goes away. This is a really good whisky with a balanced and well thought out flavour profile. It would have been exceptional without the weird soapy off note though.

Additional information
This whisky is the original NAS version of the Darkest release. It’s aged for 12+ years in a mix of spanish and american oak and then finished for ~2 years in ex-Oloroso sherry casks.

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