This isn't an actual tasting. I don't have this (or any other dram) on hand. I was just contemplating and thought I could add a bit more clarity to some of what I posted previously.
Firstly, this certainly does taste like an Islay Scotch. It's bizarre, but it absolutely is the case because of the applewood smoke and high percentage of barley that Copper Fox uses.
The flavor profile is kind of tart with green apple. It isn't as full and rich as most Islay drams, but it's too smoky to really think of any other Scotch-producing region, barring a couple of exceptions like Longrow and Ballechin.
What I really wanted to add here though is that it's finally hit me that the particular distillery this tastes like is Kilchoman. Kilchoman has kind of thin middle that lacks a lot of the funk present in most Islay Scotch and it has a bit more a green apple and lemon fruity side to it. It also isn't quite as complex as most of the standard offerings (e.g. Laphroaig 10, Caol Ila 12). These particular elements make it fairly unique among Islay distilleries.
I presume that the underlying reason for this is that Kilchoman is a new distillery, so:
(1) It doesn't have a lot of old distillate to bottle, causing it to retain more of the bright notes and not have the same amount of mature nuance.
(2) It probably is laying down barrels that are hearts-heavy, so there are fewer weird notes that they need to wait years to smooth out, allowing them to release sooner without putting out undrinkable swill like Ardbeg Wee Beastie.
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