As a fan of peat I’ve been a fan of just about every Islay I’ve had. I was definitely interested to try out a single malt IB, and it being a fairly budget option at cask strength was definitely interesting.
Minutia: Rested about 15 minutes, drank neat in a glencairn, then with water.
Color: Gold straw.
Nose: Smoked seafood, medicinal, something pleasant I can’t place at first – I think it’s seashells. Water draws out that mystery/seashell smell to the front.
Taste: Green apple, salt, like apple saltwater taffy, smoke. Water gives a briny flavor.
Finish: Pepper, earth, rubber. With water, ashy smoke, and it is shortened.
It was better without water, at 58% the impact was surprising. I found myself thinking, “what is that?” quite a bit with this, perhaps it’s a bit above where my nosing/tasting abilities are. While I couldn’t pinpoint all the specifics of this dram, I did enjoy it quite a bit. If you told me this was a blend you could have fooled me. This single malt hits a lot of notes a blended malt trying to capture “Islay” would hit. Fortunately for me I’ve recently finished trying the standard expressions from each Islay distillery and have had all fairly recently, and I can see much of them in here. I don’t know about Ardbeg or Bunnahabhain, but I found this reminiscent (at least a bit) of Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, and Kilchoman, even. No wonder the source of the spirit is so widely discussed.
Score: 89
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