N: A thick, cereal laden and slightly creamy bouquet. Powerful medley of gristy malting, dusty porridge oats, brown sugar and some creamy vanillin. This is thick and full, the high proof is a little subdued by the cereals dominance but does just sneak in. Ten minutes later (on good advice) and there is a delicate peat smoke and subtle aromatic-herbal presence. P: No surprises - malt. A complex and refined malt though, this has the heft of a tea biscuit with the sweetness of a barley sugar hard candy and the creaminess of butterscotch. Apple crispness with a sticky caramel at the edges. Peat smoke is warm but remains in the background with a menthol palate cleansing lift. F: Ludicrously long. Oak tannins are spicy, peat smoke is ashy. Menthol and mint is powerful and refreshing. @cascode, you are yet again too kind. A generously shared dram gratefully received. And thank you for the recommendation that this needs a long time to develop in the glass and that water is the cheat code needed to unlock this. So, thats what I’ve done. N: A hit of water demonstrates how compressed this nose was, everything has lengthened and released a slight sweet-hay and lanolin aroma, the peat is delicate, floral and ever so distant is some anise. P: Peat is brought right up to the front and it brings with it a stewed plum spiced with white pepper, ginger, and citrus zest. The malt is still there but it is lighter and maybe even a touch darker? Like a biscuit cooked past blonde. F: Much the same save for the salivation that the juicy apple and menthol brings out. Fifteen minutes later and I can still feel a slightly ashy, peppery, and freshly grated cinnamon playing on my palate. This is a big, and seemingly simple whisky on first approach. And not treated with care and patience, one to easily overlook, Yet, for a high proof liquid there is a lovely distillate driven delicacy that is at odds with its ABV. A remarkably well made, surgically clean, and confident entry from a tiny Australian distillery. Distiller whisky taste #232 [Pictured here with a message from the mantle. Transported to the surface in volcanic lavas (commonly basalts), mantle xenoliths (foreign rocks) are chunks of solidified mantle. The Earth’s mantle is full of olivine and so these xenoliths are typically comprised of bright green olivine and some minor black pyroxenes. This mantle xenolith surrounded by black basalt is from Tenerife.]