My first of the Islay Barley series — and an impressive start. The color is a gold with unmatched clarity and brightness. I smell uniqueness: echinacea, brine, sphagnum moss, and dried pineapple. The palate is explosively multifaceted. The dried pineapple of the nose flares gooey pineapple upside down cake on the tongue. I taste wild blueberries, salt of sunflower seeds, wild yeast, and nori, too. My favorite aspect of this scotch is the finish. At 100 proof, it never stops expanding, like a little universe in your mouth that grows perpetually after the first star fuses into existence. With notes of inchoate peat, it spreads in an unending, estery wave, making sense of why this is called a spirit. The aftertaste that remains is a smoky vanilla grounded by sweet malt. The most interesting scotch I’ve had a bottle of in a long time, Bruichladdich never ceases to amaze.