Sydney Whisky Show May 20th 2023. Whisky #31 Nose: Soft, aromatic peat smoke with overtones of fragrant wood (sandalwood, camphor) and no sharpness at all. Wafts of seaside farmyard: brine and low-tide beaches, leather saddles, sweet dark soil, heather honey and lemon trees. A little lapsang souchong tea, perique tobacco, and then some menthol, dark chocolate and over-ripe apricots in the background. Palate: Soft arrival with gingerbread, toasted marshmallow, cooked cereals and molasses but all wrapped in a light blanket of fragrant smoke. Development brings a more assertive smoke note that continues to build as it rests in the mouth and then goes even further with subsequent sips. Pepper, smoked fish, herbs, dried lemon, aniseed, malt extract, menthol, mineral salts. The texture is oily but drying, with very fine tannic resin notes. Finish: Medium. Peppery peat, leather, pine, asphalt, fennel and spice notes. The balance starts out sweet in the arrival but tails off into a long, dry elegant aftertaste in the finish. Wow, at last I’ve finished writing up the notes from the Sydney Whisky Show this year. It's taken me 5 months and I can finally get on to the three boxes of samples I've had waiting. This is the first Traigh Bhan batch I’ve had the chance to taste and I deliberately left it until the end of the day to try at the show. I was probably a little tipsy by then even though I’d been using the spittoons, but nothing could hide the obvious quality of this whisky. My first reaction to it was surprise because it does not show maturity in the same way as other Islay spirits. They mostly change profile in some way (for example, Laphroaig loses its phenols and shows its estery fruit notes much more clearly). Old Ardbeg, in contrast, tastes exactly like young Ardbeg, just more balanced and restrained. In fact to be more precise this was very like the “For Discussion” 8 year old expression that I had tasted immediately beforehand, but with 10-12 years more maturation. Very fine whisky, a pleasure to taste and at the price almost tempting … but not quite. “Excellent” : 88/100 (4.5 stars)