Tastes

Nose - peach, apple, dry grass, caramel, vanilla, candied orange, honey, raisin, malty grain, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - peach tea, candy orange, apple, honey, cinnamon, brine, caramel, vanilla, clove, sweet barrel char, cocoa, raisin, dry grass, lemon, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with orchard fruit, tannic barrel char, and caramel flavors. This is my favorite of the three that came in my sampler pack (10 Year Origin and Superstition were the others). The sweet palate is much more rounded, the sourness is dialed down, and the bitterness isn’t quite as off putting. And the peach tea note is quite nice. So it’s not great, but definitely a step or two above the others for me.

Nose - funky, oily peat, brine, dry grass, apple, honey, mild vanilla and caramel, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sour apple, honey, vanilla, caramel, dry grass, oily peat, cereal grain, barrel char, brine, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with sour apple, sweet peat, and caramel barrel char flavors. I like this better than the 10 Year Origin release, but it’s not spectacular. The same sourness on the palate is present here. However, there’s more complexity and less tannic bitterness, so I’ll give this one a slight edge.

Nose - sour apple, peach, lemon zest, honey, dry grass, floral notes, malty grain, sweet vanilla, subtle cinnamon, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - honey, chocolate, sour apple, tannic dry grass, cereal grain, lemon zest, peach, hint of caramel, floral notes, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast with mostly sour fruit, bitter grassy, floral, and hot young alcohol flavors. While I find this to be reasonably serviceable, I’m not very impressed. Some aspects of the nose and palate are nice, but the fruit is too sour, the grass is too bitter, and it generally does not integrate the components very well. It would probably be improved with more time in the barrel.

Nose - pineapple, vanilla cream, orange and lemon zest, honey, grass, mild peat, rotting wood, rubber band, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sour apple, salted toffee, orange creamsicle, chocolate, tannic oak, honey, grass, mild peat smoke, citrus zest, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with bitter wood, sour fruit, and toffee flavors. This is much less enjoyable than the 12 year. You can definitely taste the influence from the bourbon barrels, particularly with the caramel and vanilla notes. While there are some nice flavors here, they are overwhelmed by a sourness and bitterness that dominate the palate.

Nose - sweet peat smoke, ham, bacon grease, mushroom like fungal notes, iodine, seaweed, brine, lemon, melon, honey, subtle vanilla, toffee, leather, old wood, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - sweet and savory peat, bacon grease, ham, butterscotch, toffee, vanilla, lemon, ginger, wasabi, brine, chili pepper, seaweed, honey, iodine, subtle rubber, leather, moderate alcohol bite, finishing long and pleasantly smoky with savory meat, zingy lemon ginger, and semi-sweet toffee flavors. I really like it (mostly because I’m a peat head), but I’m not sure it’s better than the sum of its parts. It provides the peated malt experience (more meaty Caol Ila than medicinal Laphroaig), but adds a nice sharp ginger and lemon zing that for a moment, against your better judgment, convinces you that this is somehow refreshing, in a ‘highball with a twist’ kind of way. And the butterscotch/toffee sweetness (presumably from the French Oak) cunningly aids in this deception. Certainly, this does not take the place of those classic heavy hitters, but it is a fresh and refreshing spin on the standard Islay experience. Or maybe it’s just been too long since I’ve had a good peated dram, and I’m a bit too eager to reconvene.