Price: £140-150
ABV: 44.9%
Appearance: Light, golden brown that glints in the glass, as if emitting a liquid sunshine.
Aroma: Rich buttery pastry, under browning golden sugar, wrapped over the top of stewing apples with lashings of sweet vanilla custard.
Taste: Sweet, floral honey laps at the tongue, covering the palate and descending backwards with a coating of delightful warmth. Then the flavours open and there is a fruity note, which is somewhere in between peach and apricot.
Just as you are enjoying these flavours, coastal salty sea spray splashes you over the face, covering you in a light cinnamon led spice.
This spice lingers and dances around the mouth warming and tingling. Here the stewed fruit and caramels reappear and remind you of the start. Just as you think the flavour is dropping, there is a waft of wood smoke, which plays over the palate, reminding you where this dram is from.
Mouthfeel: Light, yet complex.
Overall: I have to be honest and say that I am already ticking the positives box with most Islay malts, especially ones with light peating that allow for the coastal, herbal notes to be present too. This dram hits directly into my whisky sweet spot. Its complex, but well balanced. Each time you take a sip, you notice something new. I am a huge fan and was plotting how I could afford a full bottle straight away.
Real Dram Factor: 8.7
Source: Sample dram from a friend’s collection.
More Information: Murray McDavid
Buy Online: Master of Malt