ABV: 55.9 %
Origin: Islands
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 healthy serving of vanilla, toffee and soft red berries. There’s a mild layer of menthol floating around on top. Underneath the sweetness a darker character with dark chocolate, dried fruits and overripe plums creates a nice backplate. The fresher berries are joined by baked apples in the center and a rather translucent coastal note. With time in the glass everything seems to merge together to create a nice thick experience. This is a great, straight forward nose without any surprises. It delivers a solid profile which is nice overall.

Mouth: It starts out with a coastal note in the back and a quite peppery spicyness up front. There’s an immidiate increase in volume which makes the initial impact quite powerful. There are dark fruits and walnuts slowly emerging on the sides with notes of dark chocolate, overripe plums and leather. On top there’s a sprinkle of dust and some fresher fruits. The center is filled with vanilla and toffee. It still delivers a profile which is exactly on point with what to expect. After a few seconds it almost gets too spicy and forces a move on to the next step.

Finish: Surprisingly the transition almost immidiately reduces the intensity and the whole gets back to being powerful and spicy without being too aggressive. The dark fruits, chocolate and leather stay towards the edges while the center, still filled with vanilla and toffee, gets somewhat perfumey and aromatic. This seems to be connected to an oakiness which starts to build up in the back. The bitter note from the dark chocolate is now stronger and it really shows its age in the late finish. It takes a good while to get there but the late finish reveals a very nice and nutty oakiness with telltale signs of the 17 years spent in a cask. This is a great whisky which does everything by the book. It’s a solid creation (which, to be a bit picky, maybe lacks a bit of fun for the explorer).

Additional information
This whisky was distilled in 2004 and bottled 2021. It was aged in ex-Oloroso sherry casks. 11124 bottles were released. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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