Tastes

Rather sweet, dried fruits and a little oily on the nose. The sherry influence carries from the nose to the palate with butter, dried fruits, vanilla and a little cinnamon. On the tail end, sulfur comes into play, adding a light smokiness to its rather short but sweet finish.

A salty, honey-lemon-infused nose. Oily and salty on the palate with plenty of lemon, buttered popcorn and anise. A short, (you've guessed it!) salty finish, lemon, oak but a little harsh. Water (and about 15 minutes), surprisingly removes some of the harshness, making it more enjoyable.

A very young, very tropical nose with fresh fruits and candied bananas. Light and very smooth on the palate, with that fruit making way disappointingly quickly to honey, butterscotch and coconut. Finish is very short, light and oaky with a slight ethanol note, the promise of fruit that the nose teased at all but gone.

The nose is, easily, my favourite part of this, an amazing pine forest smell so reminiscent of bourbon, freshly cut green apples and a little sweetness towards the end. The palate has almost too much going on, savoury and bitter with vanilla, oak, hints of pineapple and coconut. A medium, bitter, oily, spicey finish. Don't shoot me here but I really feel this needs water to tame its harsher qualities.

The nose is a real cornucopia of smokey BBQ meats, plums, passion fruit, fortified red wine and a dash of brine. The palate carries on this adventure with peat accentuated by smoked meats, American BBQ, sweet port wine and bringing it to a close with a savoury, slightly bitter touch of chilli heat. The finish, long, dry and oily.

A rather funky nose, sea salt, caramel and loads of cured meats, with more subtle medicinal notes. A deceptively soft arrival on the palate, black pepper, lemon, hickory smoked bacon, salted caramel through its rich, somewhat oily length. A lovely medium finish, dark chocolate, caramel, a hint of spice and brine.

This dram needs a good 15 minutes to open up but when it does, it has a really fresh, fragrant nose of green apples and honeysuckle and a tinge of copper. On the palate, more green apples but taking a backseat to raisins, malt and wrapping up with a little cocoa, white pepper and spice. A pleasant, if rather short finish of more of the same, honey, pepper and malt but with an oily quality to it.

This has a beautiful, meaty nose of lime zest, a little vanilla. A salty palate where the vanilla, lime and peat balance out rather well. A rich finish of medium length, tangy and citrusy with hint of heat. And not that it needs mentioning but, sticking true to its Islay roots, glorious smoke from start to finish. Didn't bother adding water to this as I think it would've diminished the experience.