Single Malt
Scotland
1 Jan 2014
1 Mar 2024
Natural cask strength, natural colour, 10 whole years in an oloroso sherry cask, and under £50 – what anarchy is this?! Black Friday, that's what, and we bottled this whisky up to mark the occasion.
Never mind the tellies and hairdryers, here's the Secret Islay! This smoky single malt was distilled in 2014 and spent the next 10 years maturing in an oloroso sherry butt. Back in 2014, a British supermarket chain reported selling a month's worth of large screen TVs in under 45 minutes on Black Friday. Well, there are only 711 bottles of this, and the countdown is on for you to bag one of them.
Sticky sweetness and smoke, runny salted caramel, honeyed brioche, and grilled peach. There's balanced peat, a hint of hickory, and strawberry foams. Earthen oak and a touch of smoky black tea nestle in the depths.
Dense toffee and bold peat smoke collide with cracked black pepper heat and jammy berries. Hot ribena, singed rosemary, dark Swiss chocolate, robust oak, and earthy ash follow, while Scottish tablet and dried fruit sweetness linger.
Meaty malt, wood smoke, Frazzles, burnt custard, charred apricot, pungent peat, and a tingle of peppery heat.
I don't drink much in the way of peat -usually a bottle or two of Laphroiag a year. I do like a nice blast of sherry (eg Wormtub and the amazing Olorosum), so bought this as part of the black friday duo offer. Just opened it to have a taster- woop woop woop! An incredible hit of peaty smoke, followed by all those delicious sherry flavours, then a long smoky finish. This is gorgeous! Grab a bottle before its all gone....
Had planned to pick up an Islay peat monster (like Ardbeg Wee Beastie) during Black Friday. Took a punt on this and glad I did. It's like nothing I've tried before and would say the tasting notes are pretty much spot on. Really put me in mind of a chocolate Daim bar, then the smoke on the finish just builds and builds. Far more complex than I was expecting. Would love to know where this comes from for future purchases!
Even a sniff of the bottle as soon as I uncorked it blew me away. Powerful smoke from the get-go but a wonderful cocoa sweetness too. In the glass the smoke builds and builds, and you start to get the fruitiness from the sherry too. On the palate it's beautifully balanced, the smoke is really strong but not too much with lots of depth from the sweetness. Really rich, really punchy, not for the faint hearted but any peat lovers should adore this. I love smelling the smoke on the empty glass the morning after and this is one of the best ever, super strong bonfire / wood smoke aromas, really beautiful. The sheer strength of the smoke makes me guess this is Kilhomman or possibly Port Charlotte?
