Nose is woody, with sawdust, some kind of tea, and very mild smoke. Palate is sorta sweet, sorta spicy, sorta plain, sorta tannic and woody, and sorta some background smoke. Finish is medium-long. To note, this came across my palate in a blind tasting (all I knew is I was tasting single malt whisky). Had I been anticipating an Ardbeg, I think I would have enjoyed this much more -- I'm not ashamed to admit that expectation can play a large role in one's enjoyment of whisky -- which is of course why blind tastings can be so important. Anyhow, upon discovering what this was, I suddenly understood why many people look back on this with the "It wasn't that good" attitude. My understanding is that bottlings got less peaty as time went on (in the short 6 years this existed), and this may be one such bottle. Whatever the case, what is in this bottle is decent, lightly peated whisky.  B-

RETASTES (Late 2009 and 2010): A lot more enjoyable than the notes and rating (B-) above, particularly the 2002 bottling we currently have in the club reserves.  B/B+ and I need to retaste again.  

(2011): Yeah it's a B/B+