N: Smells like old Islay (tasted blind my guess was Ardbeg, wrong!), a little glue, farminess, motor oil. P: Sweet and oily, surprising light and with subtle smoke. F: Citrus and finally some stronger peat in the finish. I'm very curious what the component malts were like because the one cask of Imperial has really balanced out the two casks of Caol Ila. Surprising and welcome.
Nose is sweet fruits with nice apples and cherries. Little peaty notes way in the background. The palate has some nice peaty iodine things going on but not enough to make this a B range IMHO.
Nose has an immediately apparent smoke, a coal and tar type of it. Not overwhelming, just nicely present. Something mildly oceanic and salty too. The palate -- hey, this is nice. It's like the nose, generally smokey yet not a monster, and mildly sweet. There's a mild and elusive complexity going on here, a medium-deep brine alternating with the phenols. As it opens up, powdered-sugar sweetness moves closer to medium than mild. In the finish, salt moves to the forefront, particularly in the very end, and sticks around quite a while. There's a nice balance between the peat, wood, and sweeter stuff that keeps me coming back for more. This strikes me as a great whisky for an overcast but enjoyable day. B/B+
Thanks for your comment.
As a first-time poster, your comment is awaiting approval to verify you're not a spammer, or crazy, or both.
After that, your posts will appear immediately.
