Elements of Islay Peat

Elements of Islay is one of those collections of expressions that often call my attention but i avoid to buy because of the 50cl bottle. If i am going to buy a whole bottle i expect at least a traditional 70cl one. This one is called "Peat", and it is a blended malt, from "a handful of distilleries from the north and south of Islay". Bottled at 59.3%abv, white wine color. Uncorking gave me an aromatic heathery peat as a first aroma. On the nose, It is actually not overpowering. Very aromatic. Citric and fruity. Gooseberries and grapefruit. Spicy.  Wasabi. Tabasco sauce. Chilli. Newspaper ashes. Fresh farm fruits, stinging spices and aromatic smoke. After a first sip, the sugar syrup notes have gone to the nose. Burnt hay, tobacco leaf. A cotton candy infused with lovely peat.  On the palate, it starts with sugar syrup, then chilli, but very pleasant. It is actually very sweet and scorching but in such a nice way. Very "holdable" in your mouth for a 59.3% peaty bomb. Salt rocks. The second sip is a peat caramel. Sweet toffee with salt. This is remarkably good, powerful but super manageable. This is sweet. Very, very sweet. I love it. Finish: Beautiful aftertaste of burning new wood. Very dry. Not too long and fairly oaky.  The second sip gave me a complex more long aftertaste, full with sugar, peat, smoke and incense. Cigarrettes, with sugar. Mint and marvelous other things. Overall, i got to say that i was a little skeptic of this one, because super cask strength peaty whiskies are often too powerful to be drank on any given day. You have to be on the right mood and be prepared for an overload of feelings. This is not the case. This is a sweet, amazingly enjoyable dram, full of flavor, very easy to drink and rewarding. I loved every inch of it. Every sip was better. I believe we have a contender for my list of this year top ten whiskies. My score for this outstanding dram is 100 over 100.

Another installment in my gift collection of samples. As the description states, this whisky is sourced from Islay malts to showcase their character. Seeing that this has an ABV approaching 60, I added about 1/2 tsp of water to the 30 mL dram and gave it 15 minutes to open up. Nose: Iodine, sea spray, smoke, citrus zest Palate: Honey, smoked ham (very prominent), cigar ash, campfire, and ethanol burn Finish: medium long and hot with lingering smoked ham. 3.5 stars. Not bad for something I've never heard anything about.

This whisky made me sneeze. But it really evoked a memory of sitting by a bon fire on Asilomar beach, sipping some whisky, bundled against the wind.

Good whisky, and reminiscent of a Lagavulin 16. Peat and honey play nice here, with a smooth finish. I recommend.

strong, peaty, full flavour. With big peat christmas edition this is a good cask strength islay blend.

2016/10/2 ne plus ultra 銀座にて ピート感強いが、クセになる香り。アタックが強烈だが、その後にマイルド感漂う。