Nose: fermenting apples, earth, hay stables, leaf-burning smoke, a hint of custard, new sneakers, honey, vanilla cake.

Palate: medium body ~ more farmy hay, overripe apples and leafy smoke following through, menthol, minerals, waxes, vanilla, ointments, smoked cereals.

Finish: medium-long ~ on smoke and minerals, bits of copper and menthol, pool chemicals, fades a bit as it sits, smoke comes forward with a pipe tobacco edge, more ripe apples, camphor, black pepper.

Conclusion: This is very, very good whisky. It’s autumnal and complex, and nostalgic for me as it evokes memories of my youth in the Northwest and the cold, wet days that often defined late autumn. It feels very old-school compared to modern Port Charlotte 10yr, which replaced this whisky and still remains one of my favorite standards. It’s possible that the red wine casks in here, not used in the 10yr, lead to a complexity reminiscent more of Benromach or Springbank than most spirits coming from Islay of late (this complexity is echoed by the special Port Charlotte releases that use red wine casks,

I had a chance to buy a full bottle of this years ago, and didn’t, because I was naïve, new to whisky, and had swallowed wholesale the idea that age statements were super important. Boy, am I kicking myself for that decision— this one’s a banger.