Tastes

HONEY caramel, like a full young brandy. Hint of apples and a hint of pears. Sulfur-smoke. Canned fruit cocktail fruits, red ones, yellow ones. Tangerines, grapefruit and pomegranate. Orange peels. Yellows and mellows with time in the bottle. Reminiscent of an unpeated Caol Ila. (I could have sworn I got a whiff of something wet sherry cask-like, HP-like, almost heathery, out of the bottle one day, but I've lost it.) Gooseberries, apricot marmalade, cream, vanilla sugar. Cloudberry marmalade and thick sweet sour cream (a combination I tried in some pancake roll ups once. Delicious.) Frozen yogurt. Sassafras root. Ginger. Molasses, rum-like. Dense waxy malt. Malty. Chili note. Cocoa powder, dusty cocoa. Bit bitter. Classic style dry SELTZER WATER. Mineral. Old oak, in the background, like oak furniture sitting in an old wood house. Walnuts. HONEY, natural, pungent, unprocessed. The sulfur tones ever so slightly down and marries with the caramel fullness of this dram with aeration. A heavy but not at all harsh maltiness. They say this has a meaty character to it, but I would say it is *bready*. Specifically, I get bread *sticks*. Kind you get in restaurants. Touch of olive oil. Tiny bit of garlic.

Faint smoke, but sharp and succulent peat on the palate. powdered hard licorice candies sour wild apples pronounced bitterness, bitter oranges blood oranges, peaches, pineapples, grapefruit, pomegranate bananas, banana peels green pepper, black pepper honey treacle marzipan Medium dark chocolate, coffee, cocoa powder, dusty, gets very rich and chocolaty that un-chill filtered frozen yogurt note bit of waxy malt Salty and has kind of a fresh mineraly sea air presence - Half a teaspoon of water, give it half an hour to really bring the age out. Tremendous age. Does a flip - turns itself completely inside-out about three weeks in. Goes from sharp and zingy to birthday cake: milk chocolate, whipped cream, huge yellow fruit. Very full and soft. One of the most outstanding and delicious malts I have ever tasted. Very well vatted.

~ Do I detect a hint of truffles in this . . ?

Creme Brulee, Armagnac Hors D'age, eucalyptus, dusty cocoa powder, peaches, soft caramel, nectarines, orange peels, floral almonds and fragrant (hi-end) marzipan. Dried yellow fruits, bit of ginger. Citrus, not quite lemon. Faintly tropical - bit of mango. Medium dark and milky chocolate. Slightly waxy. red fruits. raisins, sherry, slight port note. cream. dates, stone fruits. cloud berries. gooseberries. wood shavings, fresh succulent bourbon. baked apples. Walnut. Frozen yogurt note (which I tend to get in non chill filtered malts), cardamom, bright sharp Ix'mas spices, nicely contrasted with the softness one gets from the age here. Vanilla, treacle, light honey, turbinado sugar. Oak bark and white pepper. Sassafras / root beer. Delicate maltiness. AGE, maturity like nobody's business, something that really comes out with air in the bottle over time. I highly doubt this is a flat 18 year old blend. Drier and sharper but also quite a bit richer with a drop of water added. licorice. white pepper. more ginger. slight nettle. more brown spices, brown sugar. An unidentifiable earthy, floral note in the back here. .. Truffles? Medium viscosity. Silky mouthfeel. Mineral. Drying finish. Classic Highlander.