Color: Orange blossom honey, medium amber with quite thick and persistent legs around the glass.
Nose: Sulphur... Struck matches, moist black garden soil, fertilizer and water soaked dried mushrooms. Cooked prunes, raisins, dried figs and dried dates back in distance if you ever can get through the thick sulphury mist. Plastic food containers, rubber hose and newly bought sneakers. Quite a few drops of water open it up a little: dry leaves, pipe tobacco and leather goods.
Palate: Thousand year eggs, aged balsamic vinegar, cooked portobello mushrooms and seawater. Adding water works on the palate as well. Beef stew, broth and vinegar. Definitely better now: Sage, rosemary sprigs and fresh thyme. Very earthy and meaty...
Finish: Long and sour... Cumin, beef bouillon and sage.
Overall: Here is this bottle's story: During Campbeltown Malt Festival in May we purchased this bottle after the warehouse tasting. It was our mutual choice amongst the bottles we could afford. We absolutely loved it... We brought it back to US after the Festival and didn't pop it open all the time till December. During our Christmas break we uncorked it and I simply cannot describe how unpleasantly surprised we were to face the massive sulphury notes both on the nose and on the palate. The whisky was definitely not like we remembered, not even close... It was borderline drinkable... We decided to wait for a while to see if it will change in time and continued to sample once in a while to see if it was improving. It certainly did... Not a lot to be honest but definitely changed for the better in two months. There's still a lot of sulphur to deal with but at least it allows you to spend time with it. I personally started to pull out some other notes in time other than the ones associated with sulphur only. Quite an interesting experience... If I would review this bottle right after I opened it it would be at least ten points lower if not more. Odd cask...
Price: $100
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