Community Tasting Note

Soteriologist wrote:

Sunday, January 22, 2017 - [Final draft after tasting and emptying a bottle between October 3rd, 2016, and January 22nd, 2017.]

Summary: Nose of nutty and oxidized sherry-notes. The palate starts lemony, then honey and cinnamon and finishes with a rusty, iodine and salty dry and peaty length. A little rough, rather masculine somehow, all in all rather dry. Not moreish, 1 dram does the job (which in my book is a good thing).
Tasted it against a nice bottle of the Ardbeg 10 and it came out the winner IMO.
The rating of 89 - 90 is a compromise between the objective quality and my personal taste.

First impression: (...was an 87)

Here is a little video on this and on how one can use this to spike non-peated whisky of higher quality.

What makes this one particularly interesting despite its only 40% abv, its chill filteredness and the added E150 (which makes the color rather meaningless) is its wide availability, the age statement, the ex-sherry influence on a peated whisky and its very reasonable price.

Nose:
The peat is of campfire that has burned down to a quiet glow but is still running, not overwhelmingly medicinal.
Some used socks (not heavily used ☺), somewhat stuffy, plus a nutty element, sesame IMO. These last two elements are what I think the sherry maturation brings into the equation. Add to that a lift of lemony freshness, making for a rusty impression on the whole.

On the palate...
...the lemon dominates the arrival, gives way to a honeyish middle with some cinnamon, balanced by the drying peat, making it rather pleasant if still a little rough (see my comment to weiny's TN below) because a bit too salty for my taste in the length.

If you like this direction then at my investment of 27,50 € for 70 cl, this has one of the best qpr out there. It is a good budget introduction to peat smoke in a whisky, though for complete beginners I would probably suggest the softer and slightly more expensive Highland Park 12 for that purpose. This here is already bit more towards the peaty side, not quite on par with Ardbeg or Laphroaig, but perhaps rather demanding for beginners over its very maritime salty/iodine character.

I had a rest of the Dalwhinnie 15 and blended some of it with this. The result is spectacular and better than either of the two: you have the finesse of the Dalwhinnie 15 and the briny, nutty and oxidized old socks notes of the somewhat sherried Bowmore 12.

I enjoyed it but also was glad to go back to a Laphroaig as my next peated whisky.

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