Smokehead Rum Rebel

Peat with a smooth rum flavour

Nose is smoke then candied bacon and in the background charred pineapple Palate is smoky drying and briney no hint of the rum cask here The finish is Peaty with spice. Leaves quite a dry mouth. Medium short finish

Gifted this bottle by company owner ( awesome guy). Ok yeah I get it... another Nas Islay scotch, especially an unknown distiller with a hokey marketing scheme. We are tired of these knockoffs trying to compete with our beloved smoke monsters. I am not familiar with Smokehead offerings as this is my first but have to admit Im very impressed. I was concerned about a rum finished peated scotch after the total soapfest of GD Fire/Cane which was absolutely horrible imo. This however brings it with strong flavor delivery and no tide pods to be found. Im pretty sure this is Ardbeg ranging 6-9 yrs. Its not as volatile as Wee Beastie but a tick down from 10 yr refinement. The rum finish covers a lot of flaws and elevates this until the price sinks in. Nice robust smoky nose with powdered sugar sprinkled pastry and a touch of menthol. Palate is sizzling thick cut bacon glazed with brown sugar, oak tannins with smoky char and salty malt. Its a bit bright but flavors are deep. Finish is classic Islay with love you longtime smoke and cooling malt with an extra kick of sweet pastry dough. The barrel finishing here really adds to the experience in a positive way and this is (as most Islay's) highly enjoyable. The only problem I see is its around 80 bucks. As famously stated in Used Cars "That's too fuckin high" I can get Oogie or Corry for less in addition to many other age stated peated delicacies. Still this is quite tasty just overpriced........86/100