Elements of Islay Peat

This whisky made me sneeze. But it really evoked a memory of sitting by a bon fire on Asilomar beach, sipping some whisky, bundled against the wind.

Elements of Islay is one of those collections of expressions that often call my attention but i avoid to buy because of the 50cl bottle. If i am going to buy a whole bottle i expect at least a traditional 70cl one. This one is called "Peat", and it is a blended malt, from "a handful of distilleries from the north and south of Islay". Bottled at 59.3%abv, white wine color. Uncorking gave me an aromatic heathery peat as a first aroma. On the nose, It is actually not overpowering. Very aromatic. Citric and fruity. Gooseberries and grapefruit. Spicy.  Wasabi. Tabasco sauce. Chilli. Newspaper ashes. Fresh farm fruits, stinging spices and aromatic smoke. After a first sip, the sugar syrup notes have gone to the nose. Burnt hay, tobacco leaf. A cotton candy infused with lovely peat.  On the palate, it starts with sugar syrup, then chilli, but very pleasant. It is actually very sweet and scorching but in such a nice way. Very "holdable" in your mouth for a 59.3% peaty bomb. Salt rocks. The second sip is a peat caramel. Sweet toffee with salt. This is remarkably good, powerful but super manageable. This is sweet. Very, very sweet. I love it. Finish: Beautiful aftertaste of burning new wood. Very dry. Not too long and fairly oaky.  The second sip gave me a complex more long aftertaste, full with sugar, peat, smoke and incense. Cigarrettes, with sugar. Mint and marvelous other things. Overall, i got to say that i was a little skeptic of this one, because super cask strength peaty whiskies are often too powerful to be drank on any given day. You have to be on the right mood and be prepared for an overload of feelings. This is not the case. This is a sweet, amazingly enjoyable dram, full of flavor, very easy to drink and rewarding. I loved every inch of it. Every sip was better. I believe we have a contender for my list of this year top ten whiskies. My score for this outstanding dram is 100 over 100.