My wife gifted me a whisky mystery advent calendar from WhiskyHäuslein, which is cool shop with lots of samples and a large selection of Von Wees’ Ultimate bottlings. Well, initially it wasn’t a mystery but just a whisky advent calendar but my wife thought that it would be boring if I knew what it is, so she removed all the labels…a keeper for sure!
I was sick for a couple of days, so I had to take a break in my advent-ure….hohoho…so I am actually a couple of doors behind, so this is day 6 even though your advent calendar milage may vary!
Nose: Peat, brown sugar, burned matches (I’m tired of saying sulphur…), red fruits, citrus fruits like blood oranges, not as sour as pomelo, milk chocolate
Young Sherry cask Coal Ila?
Taste: Nice chocolate-y entry, then bbq spicy peat kicks in, creamy mouthfeel, milk chocolate, smoke, minor sulphur notes and some stewed fruits, white pepper notes reminding me of Talisker
Finish: Long, salty, dark coffee and milk chocolate, cigarette smoke and peat, some oak is showing at the end of the finish, quite peppery as well
Thoughts / Guess: A nice peaty chocolate-y dram! I’m not 100% sold on the Islay narrative, it might be a peated speyside as it reminds me a lot of the peated Benriachs, also the white peppery notes remind me of Talisker but I don’t think there are many IB Talisker our there. So, all in all, I think this is a peated Ardmore! Not sure about the age though, not many features of neither younger spirits nor of age influence, so let’s say between 8 and 12 years old
Final guess: Peated Ardmore, 46%, refill hogshead and 10 years old
Reveal: click me for the reveal
Conclusion: Well, first of all I quite enjoyed this one! Second, once again the combination of oak and sulphur created an image of peat, I guess the initially impression of Coal Ila didn’t help much. Imagination is a powerful thing!
Again, I’m surprised by a distillery I really haven’t had on my radar, hence I’m thankful for this opportunity! Good job, Mrs j4ni!
