Description

Tasting Notes

Colour : Lemon yellow.

Nose : Rich, concentrated. On the first nose, a delicately herbaceous, salty and iodine (seaweed) peat fills the air. Allowed to breathe, it takes on fruity (lemon, pear, walnut), spicy and rooty (ginger, gentian) notes. Like an Islay malt, the nose becomes increasingly medicinal (tiger balm), camphoric and ashy. The remarkably full palette of aromas then allows a glimpse of sleet and a very pleasant chocolate, saffron and rustic (dandelion) bitterness.

Palate : Lively yet creamy. Continuing on from the nose, the attack is empyreumatic (fuel oil, diesel). Very quickly, however, it returns gently to malty territory. The exotic mid-palate (pineapple, kiwi) sits on an earthy, spicy (clove), slightly aniseedy (star anise) and rustic (daisy, wicker) foundation. The deliciously chocolate end of the palate allows a glimpse of a freshly harvested dark peat.

Finish : Long, silky. The rooty start of the finish bursts with mineral salts and is also honeyed, waxy and creamy (vanilla flan). The salty end of the finish has definitively set down its anchor on the banks of the Isle of Islay. A salty, marine breeze sweeps through the very end of the palate. The smoky and fishy retro-nasal olfaction recreates the atmosphere of barley drying in a kiln. The empty glass is medicinal.