McClelland's Single Malt Islay

Like a campfire in a bottle. Delightful. A bit more of a burn would make it a five.

Smokey and the expert review seems spot on.

Trop mince et peu aromatique pour un Islay tourbé, délicat, mais peu de profondeur céréalière et ne réussit pas à me transporter.

Tasted a 2019 bottling, which I hear was better than newer bottlings of this ultra low budget Islay single malt. Nose: Bowmore peat. Islay peat really doesn't get any cheaper than this. It's like an old bottle of opened disinfectant mixed with last weekend's campfire ash. Some flattened citrus and faded vanilla. Damp cardboard, which I guess is what they call their oak casks over at Bowmore these days. Young malt husks. Not a terrible nose. Taste: An exact copy of the nose. Young but thankfully not aggressive, thanks to the standard ABV. Not repulsive. Drinkable. Finish: Longer than expected. Also a bit more bitter than expected. With water, the finish is shorter and overall better. It's tolerable. Final thoughts: this whisky somehow actually manages to tick all the boxes for an Islay malt. It's definitely not terrible overall. You simply get what you pay for here. I guess this could work as an introduction to Islay, but I would really recommend seeking out something more worthwhile, like MacLeod's Islay perhaps. At 15-20 euros, McClelland's Islay is actually better value than its elder Bowmore 12. I definitely wouldn't buy either of them again though.