Secret Islay 1990 Refill Barrel, cask strength 50,7% ABV, single cask #4367, 500 ml
« Hang up your quiver of feathered arrows on the heavy oak door and stay inside your fisherman's
cottage on a foggy night, enjoying Scotch broth cooked in a copper pan over a smoky coal fire. »
Colour : Apple juice
Nose : Ashy bonfire in thick fog, polished leather boots and Scotch broth cooking on the Aga, iodine and fresh plasters over scabbed knees, scuffed leather handguard hooked over a leather quiver of feathered arrows on the back of the heavy oak door, plus silver polish, Parma violets and mint tea.
Palate : Smooth and warming, meaty Scotch broth with sage and potatoes in a copper pan over a smoky coal fire, milk chocolate ginger thins, buttery shortbread, strawberry milkshake.
Finish : Sweet peat, sweet potato fritters, antiseptic lotion and plasters, kippers, sea spray and
crystallised ginger with a hint of distant bonfires.
Nose with Water : Water brings out the dirty smoke, there's theatrical face powder and oily make-up,antiseptic cream, bandages soaked in iodine, mackerel cooking over a bonfire on a windswept beach littered with bird feathers and there's a thick fog hovering over it all.
Palate with Water : A generous serving of kedgeree seasoned with cloves, cayenne pepper and white pepper followed by a chocolate fondue next to a smoky fire in a flint cottage with thick oak doors covered outside with sea spray.
Finish with Water : Paprika, chilli chocolates, herby Scotch broth in an oak bowl and tarnished silver cutlery, plus feathers, leather and gentle wafts of smoke at the end.