Nose: Gently aromatic smoky brine, honeyed ash and chilled fruit juice. An onshore wind blows distant, skudding smoke from a steam boat across the strand. It's low tide on a shingle beach, with smells of drying kelp reaching you as you stand in a grove of pine trees eating slices of sweet grapefruit. The far-away smoke is not intense, but integral and essential to the landscape. With time the nose deepens. Palate: A stunning entry of fresh smoky brine, alive with honeyed notes and mild sweet cinnamon. As it develops more brine emerges, but always balanced by fruit and sweet smoke until it reaches a crescendo and overflows unchecked into the finish. The cask is almost undetectable - this is young and intensely spirit-driven whisky, and irrefutable proof that young does not necessarily mean inferior. There is maturity to this whisky beyond simple years. Finish: Medium. Brackish fruit, a little honey and pepper, with seawater trailing into the aftertaste. However this is not a dry whisky and a sweet brine note lingers, particularly if water is added. Take one part young Jura whisky, add equal quantities of Highland Park and Arran so that their combined fresh honeyed-fruit notes precisely balance the brine of the Jura. Then finally add a dessertspoon of Caol Ila. That pretty much sums this up, but to criticize it for simplicity would be to entirely miss the point. If this were music it would not be a symphony, but a lone piper. If it were a painting it would be a seascape by Dufy. It is delicious, bursting with life and impeccably balanced - a tour de force of the blender's art. It is also brawny and can take a good dash of water with no trouble. Dilution is not at all necessary, it is delightful neat, but water softens, sweetens and broadens it to create an experience that is different but just as enjoyable. There is something about this whisky that brings to mind Kilchoman Machir Bay, and it is equally as good. Have you ever eaten an oyster straight from the sea? Not bought from a store or a boat, but prised from the rock, shucked immediately and eaten on the spot? This whisky is somehow irresistibly evocative of the oyster liquor in which the flesh resides, together with a dash of deliciously warming and subtle smoke. Sadly, Douglas Laing have capitulated to market pressure and renamed this blended malt "Rock Island". I guess I can understand them not wanting to alienate potential buyers but it somehow seems a shame. At the asking price this is very good value, and recommended. The official Distiller rating seems a little miserly. (Interestingly, the rating for Rock Island here by another reviewer is more like I'd expect). "Very Good" : 87/100 (4.25 stars)