Teeling Hybrid No. 1 Edition

It seems a shockingly large number of the bottles of this stuff ever produced ended up on shelves in Alberta, Canada--it's still collecting dust in some places, selling for $50/bottle or less. It's a strange one, too. Apparently the brainchild of Bruichladdich, who released a first-edition and were told to cut it out by the Scotch Whisky Association. So future batches just sat in a vat for 8 years until Teeling Irish Whiskey came along and avoided the Scotch Whisky Association by taking the juice and bottling it in Ireland. Anyway. . . . It's quite light in colour. And I wouldn't say "big Islay" flavour, exactly. Recognizably Bruichladdich on the nose (lots of buttered popcorn/diacetyl and floral notes), Iodine, peat, smoke, licorice, sea salt, buttered toast, apple skins, wood sap, butterscotch, light citrus. Warm, white pepper, light smoke on the taste, peat, vegetal, butterscotch, pancake syrup, licorice, ginger and clove. Dry, leaning into bitter on the finish. Tasty and an interesting experience. Not worth overpaying for, but if you find a dusty at a reasonable price, it's actually probably a bit better than some of the newer, non-age-stated official Bruichladdich bottlings (and for cheaper).