LAPHROAIG 10 years old cask strength 55,7%

Nose:
A nose that hits you yards away from the glass and yet, at the same time, curiously calm and relaxed. Like a heavyweight champion who knows he´s gonna win and doesn´t need to fool around. Tar in extremis, sweet-ish peat, leathery oak and a sniff of blood oranges. After warming, a pleasant sea-saltiness emerges from the bottom of the spices.


Palate:
Decidedly medicinal in character.Less sweet than the standard 10yo. Heaps of tar. After a while, fat chilli-like waves laced with blood oranges enter the stage. All held together by confident, spicy oak.

Finish:
Dry and complex peat hits you like the paw of a grizzly. Fades out with discreet bursts of salmiac.


Comment:
It´s been quite a while since I last had this one at home. Back then I remember it as extremely powerful and very good. Now it is extremely powerful and extremely good. To describe it as world class would not be an exaggeration.

Rating: 9/10

CAOL ILA 15 years old Flora & Fauna 43%

Nose:
Dry and floral to begin with. After a while an apricot sweetness enters the stage accompanied by trademark oiliness. Peat certainly present but settles for the role of second (or even third) fiddler.



Palate:
As you might guess, very oily. A soft delicate fruitiness embedded in the malt. Counterbalanced by heavy, almost sooty peat. Seemingly uneasy bedfellows but it works wonders.





Finish:
Just waves of delicate peat that travels the roof of the mouth.


Comment:
Won this in an auction. Used to be a huge favourite of mine back in the 90´s. Marvellous juxtaposition of sweetness and aggression. I don´t remember it as being this fruity but memory is a fickle thing.

Rating: 8,5/10

CAOL ILA 12 years old 43%

Nose:
Very oily as to be expected. Beneath the thickness of the oil, dwell sweet peat and shades of black pepper.




Palate:
Initially the oil dwarfs everything else. Gradually a complex interplay between malt and peat rises from the fog. All this eventually adds upp to an almost mushroom-like character. Odd.



Finish:
At last, peat that is neither too sweet nor too dry, gets the full rein. Long, complex and life-affirming.


Comment:
For my money this is the best of the current standard peat monsters. That extreme oiliness could deter some, however.

Rating: 8/10

PORT CHARLOTTE PC6 Aged 6 years 61,6%

Nose:
A nose you could rob a bank just to get a sniff at. Aggressive yet sweet peat mingles with fresh oranges. After a couple of minutes, the oranges disappear, leaving the marvellous peat in full control.




Palate:
Smooth and silky orange toffee merges comfortlessly with elegant smoke and uncompromising peat.




Finish:
More of that elegant smoke filling every single crevice at the back of the mouth. Peat so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Comment:
A highly peated whisky from the Bruichladdich distillery. Distilled in 2001. 18 000 bottles made. Not only a sign of the goodies we can expect in the future but also a testimony to the greatness of young-ish Islays. Easily among the top ten whiskies that I´ve tried. Get it before you have to cough up a fortune for it. Love the box!

Rating: 9,5/10