WHIWLL03
£82.50
One of the most lush and rich Whiskeys on the market. The nose is walnuts, prunes, and floral notes. The palate mimics the nose with walnuts, prunes, spices, intertwined with lavender and balanced with the perfect amount of acid, that leads you down a path of lingering burnt caramel.
£58.25
Nose: Heavy, thickly oaked and complex: some curious barley-sugar notes here shrouded in soft smoke. Big, but seductively gentle, too.
Taste: The delivery, though controlled at first, is massive! Then more like con-fusion as that smoke on the nose turns into warming, full blown peat, but it far from gets its own way as a vague sherry trifle note (curious, seeing how there are no sherry butts involved) - the custard presumably is oaky vanilla - hammers home that barley - fruitiness to make for a bit of a free-for-all; but for extra food measure the flavours develop into a really intense chocolate fudge middle which absolutely resonates through the palate.
Finish: A slight struggle here as the mouthfeel gets a bit puffy here with the dry peat and oak; enough molassed sweetness to see the malt through to a satisfying end, though. Above all the spices, rather than lying down and accepting their fate, rise up and usher this extraordinary whisky to its exit.
£47.75
Nose. Distinctly confidant liquorice-Bourbon notes with near perfect bitter-sweet balance; burnt honeycomb and toffee also abound
Taste. Outstanding richness and sheen to the enormous barley-oak sweetness; again there is a big Bourbony cut to the cloth with all the liquorice and molassed sugar normally associated; but the barley adds that extra dimension
Finish. Long, wonderfully layered oak offering variations of a sweet dry theme; a touch silky with some cream toffee at the death