Secret Islay 10 Years Old M.Wigman East meets West 53.3% 2011

Professional reviews

BOW (87)

Maltfascination.com

Sniff:
A combination of Tawny port and a gentle smokiness. Older Tawny in style, with more oak influence than its younger, more fruity and familiar style. Coastal smoke with some salinity and dried seaweed. Earthy peat too.

Sip:
The palate has a rather typical Islay arrival. Quite some peppery bite, smoky peat, barley and a bit of oak. The Port is like a slightly fruity, but quite sweet and syrupy flavor chasing the whisky. They’re both present, but not really ‘together’.

However, since the Port doesn’t just appear every now and then I do find this quite interesting.

Swallow:
The finish initially leaves the port behind a little bit. It focuses more on barley, oak, smoke. Whisky flavors. Spirit flavors. There’s a touch of sweetness, but it’s not overpowering.

While the Port does make the whisky lose a bit of distillery character, and therefore makes the whisky a bit more generic, it leaves enough character to make this very much an Islay whisky. Quite a good one at that.

Much like this week’s Wu Dram Clan Secret Islay, it’s a very decent bottling, but I’m still having trouble matching the whisky, its age and its price tag.

OTHER (85)

Words Of Whisky:

Nose: Meaty and savoury. Beef jerky, smoked paprika powder, bacon and red berries. Also textbook sweet peat with a nice salinity, nori and cranberries as well. Finally somewhat earthy with a touch of minerals, sage and other herbs. Becomes more medicinal with time.
Taste: Pickled lemons, herbs and even some light floral notes. That’s slightly different. There’s charcoal, a pinch of salt, medicinal touches and peat smoke as well, but those are less of a surprise. Also some star anise and burlap.
Finish: Herbal with sweet peat smoke, rubber and some gentle red fruits. Long.

CONCLUSION
Not your average Islay whisky, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this Secret Islay 2011 10 Years from Michiel Wigman.