Finlaggan Red Wine Cask Matured

Well made, peated but fruity, jucy, not harsh, just good

Nose: wine, smoke First sip: spicy, smokey and salty. Or rather in the other way around. Strong enough to give you a little punch but not much to knock you out at the beginning of the evening. After a few sips, the dram becomes like a pastry on the tongue. Sweeter and rounder. Adding water drops reveals a nice cherry smell. The whisky becomes even saltier. Nothing special comes after it. Finish: liquor and slightly peppery.

(Vita Dulcis Advent Calendar 13/24) Nose: soft but recognizable Islay peat, also the red wine finish makes it additionally interesting, peaches from a tin can, baked apples, actually surprisingly nice, a little weak but that’s totally ok, the character of the nose is reminiscent of Kilchoman which really amazes me with that cold charcoal barbecue smoke with burned matches, later barbecue sauce that is made of cooked black- and raspberries Palate: interesting as well and really intense, quite demanding and dry but very interesting for sure, gets smoother after a while and also lightly sweet like fresh strawberry jam but the cold ashy peat smoke is lingering in the back the whole time - very convincing I wanna add. Finish: slightly bitter but the peat grounds that really well, the wine influences are also very interestingly presented as well Verdict: I must say I was first confused and then very positively surprised when I found out that this was a Finlaggan, which I have never had before. Why is no talking about this distillery? It has a very strong and convincing Islay character which admittedly is a little rough and less smooth than other Islay whiskies but by no means worse. I really enjoyed this sample. It has its minor flaws and I don’t really see myself buying a bottle if I can chose a Kilchoman Sanaig or Uigeadail instead but if offered I wouldn’t deny it because this is a quite nice Islay representative for sure.

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