Colour: pale gold. Nose: much more powerful and full of youth at first nosing, almost like if it would be 15 years younger. Rawer, rougher, starting mostly on huge farmy notes (wet hay, cow stable, wet dog), eucalyptus, wax, almonds, old books, wet cardboard, smoked tea, apple skin, walnuts… Well, the list is endless as expected. Gets even wilder after a moment (hare’s belly – having run on grass after the rain at 5 in the morning as some wine buffs would say -, civet, pheasant…) Hints of mint. Peatier than both the Talisker and the Lagavulin. Just amazing at 30 years, I guess there’s still quite some Brora from the early 70’s in the vatting. Mouth: bang! Rich, invading, thick, fat and almost oily, much more compact and ‘direct’ than both the Talisker and the Lagavulin. Truckloads of peat, apple skin, marzipan and liquorice, with a little vanilla in the background and also lots of quince jelly, strong smoked tea and spices (pepper, nutmeg, dried cardamom). Hints of horseradish and mustard. Amazingly punchy, I’m so glad I tasted the Talisker and the Lagavulin first. Very long finish of course, with again a little salt and quite some lemon skin, smoked tea and, of course, peat. Brilliantly compact, even if I feel the ‘2004’ version was maybe still a slight notch above this one. But let’s not split hairs, this is just what the doctor ordered!

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