Tasting Notes: Ardbeg: Hypernova

Ardbeg: Hypernova (Scotland Islay Single Malt Whisky: 51% ABV)

Visual: Pale grain to gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Soot. Dry. Medicinal. Smoke. Medical bandages to medical spirit. Oak. Water adds sulphur. Fresh sour dough. Moss.

Body: Watered down golden syrup. Oak. Very clean medicinal character. Dry. Vanilla toffee. Soft peat. Water makes sweeter. Jelly babies and golden syrup. Toffee syrup. Grapes.

Finish: Dry smoke. Clean. Harsh medicinal back. Mildly acrid after a while. Water adds toffee syrup and vanilla custard.

Conclusion: This is perfectly fine, yet by just being that is actually disappointing.

Considering that the hype is about how peaty it is, this actually comes across very clean, with a clean medicinal character as the most evident style. The smoke is there but again delivered very cleanly, with soot around it. Far less peaty that you would expect based on its reputation.

Water makes it sweeter with a range of sweeter and occasionally fruitier notes than you would normally see in an Ardbeg. Oddly it seems more open to show those notes that the less peaty Ardbeg drams that came before it. Despite that it returns to the same small range for the most part making it feel one note. Clean, medicinal, peat and smoke, just less than you would expect.

It isn’t bad, I want to make that very clear. This is a perfectly fine whisky that does what you would expect from an Islay – leaning more medicinal than most Ardbeg and, as mentioned, cleaner, but for that it is fine. It just isn’t particularly anything outside that, no huge stand out notes, not even the peat, not great complexity.

Again it is fine, those fruit notes are nice, but there are so many better peaty whiskies for a fraction of the cost and easier to get.

Fine, but a disappointment.

Background: The final of the whiskies at Independent Spirit’s Uber Whisky tasting. This is described as the “smokiest Ardbeg ever to mature into existence” on their website and “Possibly the smokiest dram in the world”. The possibly I am guessing is there due to the ever changing ppms of the Octomores that come out. Anyway Ardbeg is a pretty peat heavy whisky at the best of times so I was very excited by this. As always, by this point of the night I had already had a few drams so was not at my best, but I still did my best to turn out understandable notes.

Tasting Notes: Kilchoman: 16 Years

Kilchoman: 16 Years (Islay Single Malt Whisky: 16 Year: 50% ABV)

Visual: Moderate gold colour. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Germolene. Light oak. Light clotted cream. Peppery. Light tar. Water adds more clotted cream, and shortbread.

Body: Cherries. Charring. Medium rare steak. Smoke. Trifle. Dry peat. Cherry pocked digestives. Oily. Water adds burnt brown sugar. Lots of trifle and lots of fudge.

Finish: Tannins. Sherry trifle. Sultanas. Attenuated. Oily smoke. Soot. Water adds mild condensed cream. Cherries. More smoke.

Conclusion: This is a) delicious and b) changes so much over time. It opens up so full on, with a germolene medical air in the spirit that reminds me in a way of Port Ellen. Always a good thing.

Then it has a meaty taste which I don’t think I have ever had to describe in such a way before. I have encountered smoke, dried, burnt and other such meat notes many a time. This tastes like medium rare steak hovering amongst the smoke and dark fruit, meat but still juicy in a deliciously odd way.

As time goes on those odd elements are still present but very much reduced, especially with water, now letting much more sherry and dark fruit out, in a familiar and tasty way.

There is still soot and some medicinal notes but now much smoother, easy drinking and so fruity in a red and dark fruit way. It finds a balance and range that is incredibly impressive.

Another win for Kilchoman.

Background: Another one from Independent Spirits Uber Whisky tasting. This time the oldest Kilchoman release so far at 16 years – one of only 5000 bottles released. Kilchoman has been a solid hit with me most times, so was looking forwards to this one. It is a mix of 21 casks, mostly ex bourbon with some ex oloroso sherry casks, peated to 50 ppm. I did not come up with the Germolene note myself, I cannot remember which of my fellow drinkers said it due to the weight of alcohol but it captured it perfectly so I “ borrowed” it. Many thanks. As always my notes at tastings may be a tad more scattershot than normal due to the nature of the events. Not my best bottle picture I am sorry to say. Ah well. i blame alcohol.

Tasting Notes: Ardbeg: Bizarrebq

Ardbeg: Bizarrebq (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 50.9% ABV)

Visual: Dark bronzed gold spirit with fast thick streaks that come from it.

Nose: Smoked beef to beef brisket. Thai seven spice. Hickory smoke barbecue sauce. Peat. Salt. Moss. Oily. Charred wood. Brown sugar. Water adds more salt and makes more medicinal.

Body: Oily. Dry touch. Dry beef. Charred meat bits. Dry smoke. Chines stir fry veg. Slight black cherry. Salt. Water makes drier and more medicinal.

Finish: Smoke. Salt. Medicinal touch. Charred meat bits. Water make spicier and with dry smoke.

Conclusion: This is another one of those drams that has changed a lot since I first opened the bottle.

When I first had it, it didn’t seem that much different from a normal good quality Ardbeg – maybe a bit oilier and a bit meatier, but generally just what I would expect from a good quality Ardbeg – which is nothing to turn your nose up at; Ardbeg is amazing. Just, the odd cask ageing didn’t seem to be doing much.

Now I return to it and this is still very recognisably Ardbeg, with big peat smoke and some salt and medicinal notes, though as always not as medicinal as some other distilleries on Islay. It seems drier than when I first encountered it, despite still having those oily notes, but the main thing is it now seems a lot spicier. The barbecue influence shows in that spiciness it seems along with lots of smoke, dried meat and charred meat bits, and that oiliness gives a barbecue meat glaze style.

It is one of the rare exceptions for me where a being spicy whisky doesn’t work against it – it feels like Ardbeg is big enough to work against it, so the spice never feels like an overly dominating note.

This is the meatier, spicier Ardbeg and that really works. Just give it some time to air and open up to show it at its best.

Background: As a fan of Ardbeg and oddities this one caught my eye at independent spirit. So, this is a collaboration with Dr Bill Lumsden and DJ BBQ (aka Christian Stevenson) – I have to admit I have no idea who they are and just copied their names from the description. The oddity comes in the cask choice, double charred oak case, fair enough – toasted Pedro Ximénez sherry casks – nice, and then what they call barbecue casks, which are described as heavily charred casks, custom made using an old-fashioned brazier – I have no idea if they have ever been near a barbecue or if that is just a fancy name. Music wise I went big with this, going for Svalbards new album – The Weight Of The Mask.

Tasting Notes: Kilchoman: United Kingdom Small Batch: Batch 5

Kilchoman: United Kingdom Small Batch: Batch 5 (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 49% ABV)

Visual: Pale yellow gold spirit with fast, thick streaks coming from it.

Nose: Wet salty rocks. White grapes. Spirity apple notes. Light dry smoke. Water adds dry sherry and lightly medicinal notes.

Body: Smooth. Smoked meat. Salt and wet rocks. White wine. Malt chocolate. Water makes much more apple flavour. Light red cherries. Light banana soft sweets. Toffee.

Finish: Malt chocolate. Wet rocks. Dry peaty notes. Sour apples. Water adds brown bread. Slightly salty and toffee to fudge.

Conclusion: I am such a sucker for Calvados aged whisky. You see it so rarely that I tend to try and grab and give a try to them whenever I see one pop up. Within my money and liver capacity, natch. The fact that this is a Kilchoman didn’t hurt either – the quality of whisky from this distillery tends to be pretty high.

So how does it do?

For a Kilchoman this is on the lower end of their quality scale – which means it is a perfectly fine whisky by any other metric.

Neat it has that slightly salty, slight peaty Islay character – it is not as pronounced as some other Islay distilleries but definitely distinctly from the region. There is smoked meat, again in a mellow way, with grapes and light apple hints around it. Here the Calvados influence is definitely a small part of the experience.

Water brings out the Calvados with lots more apple like notes, not overwhelming, but now a distinct backing note along with some toffee sweetness. Like this the general gist of the whisky is positive, but there is a neutral breadiness that feels like it lets it down. With that it never full achieves either the quality Kilchoman character, nor the full show of the Calvados, and this ending up kind of neutral.

It is fine as a whisky, enjoyable even, and does give me the subtle Calvados influences that are the reason I bought the whisky, but it fails to really shine overall.

Do you want a reasonable Calvados influenced whisky? Then this is fine, and one of the few that exist. If you are not too bothered about that part then there are many a better dram around.

Background: Well this caught my attention. Kilchoman are a distillery that I have gained a lot of respect for in their short time turning out whisky, and this UK only small batch release caught my eye with its barrel ageing breakdown. 70% bourbon, normal enough, 5% Oloroso, ok fair enough, and then 25% Calvados. You do not see much of of Calvados ageing, and it being used here was a big part of why I grabbed this whisky – one of 1,260 bottles that exist. This was another one grabbed from Independent Spirit, they have quite the line up of Kilchomans. Went back to Flipper: Album – Generic Flipper for music, I am very much enjoying that album.

Tasting Notes: Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.3

Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.3 (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 5 Year: 61.4% ABV)

Visual: Pale gold. Slow thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Light menthol. Clean soot. Green grapes. Water adds slight sulphur. Natural wine. More green grapes.

Body: Green grapes. Oily. Smoked beef. Honey to honeysuckle. Water adds lot of green fruit. Buttery . Soot.

Finish: Oily soot. Vanilla. Green grapes. Numbing. Honeysuckle. Menthol. Creamy. Water makes buttery.

Ok this is the kind of Octomore that is not the stripped down clean peat expression take, nor the overwhelmingly showy take, so I had to take a while to work out what it was that made this Octomore stand out. It does have quite a clean peaty style, slightly oily but it doesn’t feel limited to that. The enhancement to it are seen in green fruit and creamy notes that add to the experience but are still very much in line with it. They are all enhancements rather than contrasts or new threads. It is sweet but not overwhelmingly so, fruity but the green fruit is very much something that gives the main Octomore a lot of room to work.

If the 14.1 Octomore is the stripped down peat bomb, and the 14.2 is the showy circus act of the range, this feels like the besuited posh take on the spirit. It is not revolutionary, just everything is polished up more and more distinguished, set to emphasise the best quality and play down the weaker ones.

Without water it is still intense, as might be expected for the abv and ppm. Water really smooths it out, and really lets the honey notes show themselves making it feel more gentle despite the intensity of the peat. This, if you want to try Octomore is the polished take that is still clearly an Octomore – and you have to decide if that mean sit is worth the extra cost, but taken just as what it is it is a very distinguished dram.

Background: Ok this was the final of the whiskies at Independent Spirit’s Bruichladdich whisky tasting night. By this point I had drunk many high peat and high abv drams, so forgive me if these are not up to my usual standard, but I did my best to bring home some notes that could at least be comprehended. This was both the strongest of the whiskies of the night and the most peated, coming it at a scary 214.2ppm. It was aged in a mix of second fill wine casks and first fill bourbon, but what makes the *.3 Octomores special is that they are not just made with all Scottish Concerto barley, but all grown on Islay itself for a bit of the old terroir. Three Octomores in one night was a tad intense but we made it though it. Just about.

Tasting Notes: Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.2

Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.2 (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 5 Years: 57.7% ABV)

Visual: Rich dark gold with fast thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Honeyed. Dessert wine. Oily. Stewed apricot. Redcurrant. Oily smoke. Butterscotch. Water adds greenery and drier smoke.

Body: Honeyed. Clinging. Smooth despite that. Turmeric touch. Sooty smoke. Water adds custard. Barbecue sauce. Cherries. Redcurrant.

Finish: Soot. Honey. Oily peat. Redcurrant. Numbing after a few sips. Light fish oils. Water makes more peaty and oily. Blackcurrant. Cherries.

Conclusion: This is more easy going than I would expect for an Octomore, which is not actually easygoing, but it is a far easier dram to get into than the 14.1 was.

It is more oily, easing the dry character and fruitier with occasional red and dark fruit really rounding it out. This is peaty, but the oily way it is delivers soothes it from its incredibly high ppm.

There is a lot of thick, oily flavours – a butterscotch sweetness, stewed apricot and red fruit as just of the stand out examples. If the 14.1 was the stripped down clean version of a peat bomb, this is like the full circus of bells and whistles, all the showing off from the barrel ageing adding to the peat.

The only down side is, as referenced, the peat is less evident – still evident – just less so that your average Octomore. So if you are just here for the peat the 14.1 is probably more to your style. This instead is the full bodied and showy Octomore. Neat it still has some of the numbing intensity, but water brings a wonderful balance to that side of things. By this point there is so much red fruit, sweetness and peat that it is amazing to try.

So, the showy Octomore and very much enjoy what that brings.

Background: I wasn’t sure if I was going to notes on this one – it was the fourth drink at the recent Independent Spirit Bruichladdich tasting, after several high abv and high peat drams. I was not sure if I would be up to doing any even vaguely coherent notes on so many peaty drams together. However when time came around I decided to give it a shot. This is again 128.8 ppm and made with 100% Scottish grown Concerto barley. The *.2 expressions of Octomore used to be duty free only, but since lock-down they seemed to have lightened up on that a bit, so this was available for the tasting. The unusual change this 14.2 expression has is that it was aged in a mix of Amaroni and olorosso casks – both separately aged for 5 years then mixed together.

Tasting Notes: Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.1

Bruichladdich: Octomore 14.1 (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 5 Years: 59.6% ABV)
Visual: Pale yellow gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Dry smoke. Soot. Germolene. Spirit. White grapes. Water makes more sooty.

Body: Smooth and oily. Peat. Quickly becomes burning if held in mouth. Clotted cream. Toffee. Water adds more clotted cream. White chocolate. Liquorice touch. Toasted teacakes.

Finish: Oily peat. Smooth. Vanilla. Germolene. Numbing alcohol. Charcoal. Water makes for clotted cream again. Numbing peat. Light chives. Liquorice touch

Conclusion: This is such a clean yet sweet peat bomb. Initially it has a slight medicinal cream character in the aroma along with sooty dry smoke so I was surprised to find out on drinking that it seems so smooth. Well initially so smooth, if held on the tongue it rapidly becomes numbing between the alcohol and peat such is its punch.

Water helps manage that intensity – it is still tongue numbing over time, but with much sweeter notes coming out – more clotted cream, white chocolate. Still intense but now with contrast (and definitely it is contrast not balance, this is unbalanced as heck).

There is lots of bourbon influence providing those sweeter notes, lots of peat. In a way this feels like the purest, cleanest, expression of Octomore I have had. Less range, but just delivering the Octomore promise as plainly as possible. The oddest, non standard element it has is a touch of liquorice that shows late end that doesn’t really work or match the rest of the style, but doesn’t particularly hurt it so can be easily overlooked.

This is very polished, very intense, very clean and very. Not the fanciest but a great example of exactly what an Octomore is

Background: Octomore, the incredibly peated Bruichladdich expression, in this case 128.9 ppm, and this was just the middle dram of the Independent Spirit Bruichladdich tasting, so fear what comes after this! This is made with all Scottish grown Concerto Barley and was aged all in first fill American oak – which I think is standard for the point one versions of the Octomore, they tend to be the standard Octomore releases. By this point I had drunk some darn alcohol heavy drams, so notes were starting to get less coherent but I did my best.

Tasting Notes: Lagavulin: Offerman Edition Batch 3: Charred Oak Cask: Aged 11 Years

Lagavulin: Offerman Edition Batch 3: Charred Oak Cask: Aged 11 Years (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 11 Years: 46% ABV)

Visual: Deep gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Beef barbecue and ribs smoke. Tarry and oily. White chocolate touch. Toasted teacakes. Charring. Sherry trifle. Drying. Liquorice touch. Toasted burnt marshmallow. Water make smoother. Lightly peppery. Light menthol. Pencil shavings.

Body: Dry. Oaken. Charred. Dried beef slices. Soot. Charcoal. Dry smoke. Burnt brown sugar and caramel. Sweet red wine. Cherries. Cake sponge. Milky chocolate. Water adds vanilla, lots of sherry trifle and overdone steak.

Finish: Tannins, cherries. Red wine. White chocolate. Dry liquorice touch. White wine air. Thai seven spice. Raisins and sultanas soaked in port. Water adds a menthol touch and dried beef slices.

Conclusion:Ok, let’s get this out of the way – this isn’t as good as the Lagavulin 16, nor the Distillers edition. Then again nothing is. Those two whiskies are nigh perfect drams – it is the curse of every other Lagavulin expression that they will end up being compared directly to those two. They are going to end up being compared to nigh perfection being sold at a cheaper price, so, ouch.

So, with that taken as a given, the real question is, does this earn its spot by being a different enough enjoyable Lagavulin expression? And the answer to that is simple, yes.

So, first the disappointments. The thing that makes it not work as well as the 16 for me is its drier, less chewy body – that mouthfeel and weight is a big part of what makes the 16 work so well for me. It is not as slight as the 8 thought, which while I did enjoy, definitely needed more body.

What does it do well? Well it has so much range – from sweeter toasted teacakes and white chocolate light undertones that give a sweeter touch of Lagavulin you don’t see often, to massive red fruit, red wine and red spirit range that makes this richer than most Lagavulin – and combined makes for a bit of a different take, while still being Lagavulin.

Water helps smooth it all out and reduce its dryness, but also kills all the remaining chewiness in the mouthfeel. Generally water improves it though, letting the spirit roam even more – but does also bring a menthol touch that doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the spirit.

So, what about that base of a good Lagavulin – the peaty smoke and chewy dried meat vibes? Well, it has a lovely range of smoke, from soot, to charcoal, charring, and just peat smoke in general. Water soothes that which is a pity, but does give a lot in return.

Similarly, while the mouthfeel of this dram is not as heavy as I would like, there is a tasty dried meat character, not as big as the 16, but there – again lessens with water.

Overall, not the 16, nor the Distiller Edition, we have already established nothing is, however it is recognisably Lagavulin and has a delicious range to work with. Well worth it if you already have the 16 on your cupboard and want something different.

Background: I missed the first two Offerman edition Lagavulins, much to my chagrin, especially as one was Guinness Cask finished which sounds epic. So I 100% had to grab this one when I saw it. Nick Offerman played a character in Parks and Recreation that was a huge Lagavulin fan, and I take it the actor is as well, so this little team up happened and I am very happy for it to have done so. This was aged in a mix of American and European oaks casks (so I presume bourbon and red wine casks), but have been heavily re charred before being used to age the whisky. Not as unusual as a Guinness Cask finish I will admit, but still an interesting one, and I do so love Lagavulin and try to sample as many expressions as I can. It is described as a perfect match for a medium rare steak. Something I will have to test at a later date. This was grabbed direct from malts.com which I think may be the only place it is sold. I am not 100% sure of that. I went with Ghost: Meliora as backing music.

Tasting Notes: Bruichladdich: Port Charlotte: OLC: 01 – 2010

Bruichladdich: Port Charlotte: OLC: 01 – 2010 (Scotland Islay Single Malt Whisky: 55.1% ABV)

Visual: Clear gold, with a mix of slow puckering and a few fast streaks coming from the spirit.

Nose: Milk chocolate. Medicinal. Hints of black forest gateaux. Pencil shavings. Dry peat smoke. Menthol to mint. Peppercorns. Gin. Water adds so much more peat smoke. Dry white wine. Spiced cherries. Moss.

Body: Strong alcohol. Chocolate cake. Dry peat. Tart green and red grapes. Water adds sweet red grapes and spicy red grapes. Paprika. Black cherry. Tons of peat. More water adds hints of raspberry yogurt hard chunks. Strawberry crème.

Finish: Dry. Dried beef slices. Smoke. Bitter cocoa. Water adds more beef to well done beef steak character. Sweet chilli. Caramel. Strawberry yogurt touch. Peppercorns.

Conclusion: So, cards on the table, this is amazing. Ok, now with that said, let’s be harsh about this whisky first.

Deep breath. While this is good neat, unsurprisingly at over 50% abv, it is a tad burning. It means that neat it is predominantly a more medicinal, harsh and dry peat kind of thing. Punchy, but not showing any more than hints of the range that you would expect this to have based on its oak journey.

Yes, that mild criticism was me trying to be harsh to this. Did I mention I adore it?

A little water smooths it out, which somehow makes the peat much bigger, more booming and less dry. Hey, as a peat fan I am not complaining. It also managed to let a lot of the subtleties from the varied ageing come out to play, and this is where things get fun.

The chocolate, almost black-forest gateaux like, character hinted at when it was neat, now is rich, dark backing for the peat. The medicinal character from the alcohol is gone, leaving a still quite dry body but now giving a real mix of sweet cake, heavy peat and smoke and dried meat that is gorgeous.

It is dark, heavy, peaty but no longer harsh. It shows its Islay character but in far smoother ways than, say, Ardbeg or Laphroaig would do, but without compromising on the smokey character.

If you add more water then it breaks the dry character, making for an oily sheen and a mossy, Island style wet rocks character. During this time more and more grapes both red and white, sour, sweet and spiced all come out. So much now showing from its many barrel ageing influence.

So, peat laden, dark and heavy, but everything else can be from sweet gateaux or wine styled to moss and oily depending on the level of water play. Though at each level the other elements are hinted at, and giving fainter backing notes. There is so much to examine here.

With just enough water this becomes the perfect match of dessert and Islay, with so many other takes available with other amounts of water.

Come get it.

Background: Been meaning to grab a Port Charlotte bottle for a while. It is the heavily peated take on the normally unpeated Bruichladdich. Not to be confused with the very, very heavily peated take that is Octomore. I’ve tried a bunch of Port Charlotte expressions over the years, but never bought a bottle. Until now. So now I have, from the ever reliable Independent Spirit. A lot going on with this one, from the bottle it is part of the “Cask Exploration Series” and has been aged in a mix of Bourbon, Vin Doux Naturel and Syrah casks then moved for the last 18 months to oloroso casks. I cannot find what OLC means from a quick google, if you know, please let me know. Wanted big booming dark music for this, so went with Anathema: The Silent Enigma.

Tasting Notes: Ben Bracken: 16 Year Old Islay

Lidl: Ben Bracken: 16 Year Old Islay (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 16 Year: 43% ABV)

Visual: Deep bronzed apricot. Fast thin streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Oily. Menthol. Alcohol tingle. Meat broth. Smoke. Mossy. Wet oak. Dried apricot. Dried beef slices. Water adds more dried beef and beef stock.

Body: Warming. Fairly smooth. Oily smoke. Tar touch. Salty rocks. Light medicinal. Slightly drying. Dried beef slices. Malt chocolate. Dried apricot. Water makes smoother. Brings out caramel. Still a prickle of alcohol. Slight cucumber. Beef broth.

Finish: Wet rocks. Dry peat smoke. Malt chocolate. Medicinal. Water adds raisins to fruitcake and glacier cherries. Sweeter chocolate. Madeira cake. Rice cakes.

Conclusion: Ok, let’s get this out of the way first. Everyone wants a guess at which distillery this game from. Well it is definitely not Ardbeg, or Laphroig unless they are working severely off type! Probably not Bruichladdich, Bowmore, Bunnahabhain or Kilchoman from the flavour. Best I know Ardnahoe doesn’t have any of anywhere near this age yet.

So, this has some Lagavulin like notes – the meaty broth like notes and decent peat, but it is not as polished or weighty as I would expect from them. With the tarry notes and general style, I would guess this is a high quality Caol Ila of more years than I normally encounter from them.

Though I could be wrong. It is just a guess. Anyway, less worrying about where it is from, more worrying about what it is like!

It is the heavier end of what you would expect from an Islay. Thick mouthfeel, some burning elements in the aroma when neat, but generally quite smooth despite the weight of feel. It is slightly oily and tarry, slightly medicinal and has a fair amount of dry peat smoke. Neat it can get drying overall, but still manages a general meaty character.

It has got a lot of peat in there, but not Ardbeg levels, and in general it feels smoothed out by age. That ageing means that, despite some alcohol notes, it still feels fine and weighty neat – however water does bring out just that big more dark fruit to express itself.

With water there is also some good sweetness under there as well, with chocolate and caramel hints coming out as it opens up. Generally though this is a sticky, heavy thing that emphasises the more tarry oily and peaty feel of an Islay whisky without going as full bore as the big guns of the island tend to.

So, to indulge the “Where is it from” vibe, again – this doesn’t feel as good as the Lagavulin 16, which is one of its close comparisons, especially with being the same age – it shows some similarity in the meaty, peaty character but isn’t as polished. Though since Lagavulin 16 is pretty much a desert island dram for me, that isn’t a harsh criticism, even making such a comparison bodes well for it. With the aforementioned tarry, oily, medicinal touch it would slot in nicely as a high quality aged Caol Ila, so that is what I would view it when deciding if it will be to your taste.

A very good dram, especially for the price. Not the best, if you are looking for that, but very high quality and very affordable for the age and quality.

Background: At Christmas Lidl released this special edition, a 16 year Islay from an unknown Distillery, for just under thirty five pounds. That is a good price, and reviews were positive so I decided to try and grab a bottle, but my local Lidl didn’t have any in stock. Typical, the one time I try and use the place. So, my parents came through for me, managed to grab a bottle and gave it to me as a Christmas present. Many thanks! Now, you may have realised this is a long time since Christmas – due to covid lock-down I only just finally got to meet my parents for the first time in over a year recently. So then I finally got it. Woo! Also, woo for meeting family. But, also woo whisky! I know my priorities (Sorry Mum). There has been a lot of guessing about where this could be from, but I have no additional info, so have to just guess. Music wise I went back to Akala: Knowledge Is Power: Vol 2 – pretty much the guy who got me into looking at more hip hop and it is epic.