Keeping the Fire Stoked 53.327 (SMWS)

This sample comes as a gift from @PBMichiganWolverine. This is my first experience with an IB Scotch. It comes from a distillery I'm quite fond of, and comes with a great review from the man who graciously sent this to me. Nose: Lemon and custard leap out of the glass. Some cinnamon and black pepper heat, coupled with sea salt, seaweed, and campfire smoke. A touch of band-aid, and some nutty notes. Seafood note (leaning toward shrimp.) At cask strength, this brings the heat and the peat. Great nose. Palate: Smoke, sea salt, and seaweed forward. Medicinal, iodine notes. More black pepper and citrus. More lemon citrus and black pepper. Some toffee, vanilla, milk chocolate, and honey sweetness can be found in the background, but they play second fiddle to the traditional Islay notes. Plenty of oak. Powerful experience. Finish: Long and complex. Starts off with more of the smoke and maritime notes. The shrimp note from the nose returns, and then I get a big hit of lime citrus at the perfect time. Plenty of black pepper and cinnamon. Absolute beast at 58.9%. Amazing whisky. Referencing @PBMichiganWolverine's review, I see he paid $60 for this. That's about as good a value as I can imagine considering how good this is. My first experience with an IB Scotch is a very positive one. I'll have to start giving these some due attention. My only complaint is that I'll never be able to own a bottle for myself. Would love to see how this develops with time. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine for giving me the opportunity to try this fantastic whisky!

Wow...this one surprised me. SMWS was at one point a real good independent bottler, but of late has become mediocre. This is not one of those. This is a single cask 10 yr cask strength Caol Ila. Matured in simply refill ex-bourbon...nothing fancy. How do you know when a whisky is a good whisky? I think it’s pretty simple: 1) reasonable price, which makes you want to open and share, rather than keep stashed away; 2) great distillate and cask quality; 3) no marketing, flying under the radar, and let the liquid speak for itself ; and 4) fly off the shelves despite lack of marketing and hype. Kilkerran 8 was one of those, at least in my recent memory. This is another. I paid barely $60. In minutes it was sold out. I had to dilute with some water, which is generally the case for me and CS whiskys. But the aroma...wow. Lemons grilling over a flame. Taste is grilled lobster, eating it in an old style diesel operated fishing boat. It’s simple and straightforward, just well crafted Islay. At USD $60..BUY on sight. Skip the hype and price gauging from others, and go for this instead.