Color: Medium amber, old copper cook ware color with thick, oily but quite fast forming legs.
Nose: A quite unexpected sulphury entry: Sour worms, rotten floorboards and kitchen sink backing up on a rainy hot day... I'll let it air a little. A little better after a few minutes. Underbaked oatmeal raisin cookies, new car tires and hazelnut praline. Actually a couple drops of water solves all the remaining problems: Latex gloves, lemon curd and custard. Crema Catalana and mineral water.
Palate: Almost no unpleasantness of sulphur on the palate... Cake batter, rum and raisin ice cream and honey roasted nuts. Like it did on the nose a little water works great on the palate as well. Rich and dense fruit cake, dried figs and tahini. Dark Muscovado sugar, caramel eclairs and candied chestnuts. Caramel latte...
Finish: Long with black peppercorns, red pepper flakes and milk chocolate. Aged rum.
Overall: Well, this was a perfect example why it's not a good idea to judge a whisky right away... For someone with a considerably low tolerance for sulphur like myself this whisky was looking like quite a downer in the beginning but it evolved surprisingly well in time after letting it air and also after adding a few drops of water. Still I was expecting (hoping) a less sweet whisky from a Manzanilla cask but it is a very good whisky nonetheless. Thanks to Koray Kaan Ă–zdemir a.k.a. Whisky Monster for sharing it from his own bottle.
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