Tasting note by Best of Wines

Salty Liquorice

We're already on a third of the competition, but luckily we still have the biggest part to go! With every edition of the Blind Tasting Competition, we always hold the competition among ourselves. Of course we want to know what the more difficult drams are, but we mainly want to know who is the best among us while enjoying a dram together. The dram of today has proven to be quite difficult, mainly because of the big difference between the nose and the taste. However, when going past this first confusion, you very quickly come to the realisation that you're tasting salmiak and pretty soon you will be scroling through the list with Islay whiskies.

COLOUR
Light bronze-gold
NOSE
Rather green in the nose with hints of green peppercorn, some peat and a nice salinity. The green notes, however, dominate this dram. In the background a slight hint of lemon zest, pineapple and cucumber.
PALATE Salmiak, liquorice, bay leaf and mango! This whisky has a lot, though the first sip of smokiness and peat gives you something to look for. Finally hints of tropical fruits, honey and citrus break through and dance a marvelous tango with the robust savory Islay flavours.
FINISH
The finish is long with a nice hint of spice and pepper. More notes of salmiak, but the whisky also gets some benefits of the creamy structure - developing coffee, some vanilla and dried herbs.

CONCLUSION
This liquorice kind op peatiness can really only come from one place: Islay. The combination of peated malt and the vicinity of the sea gives the whiskies a perfect combination of salt and peat that is loved all over the world. With this whisky it was extremely difficult to pinpoint exactly which distillery we had in our glass. The liquorice can point into the direction of Ardbeg, the tropical fruits can hint towards Caol Ila... What really made the difference was the vegetal note we had in the beginning. Cucumber and green herbs, these are trademark aromas for whiskies from Kilchoman.