Sweet and malty on the nose, honey cereal but also soil, subtle smoke and licorice root. There is some hint of floral as well but difficult to establish exactly which flowers are involved, it might be some dried grass in there as well. 

Quite intense on the palate, plenty with wood influence and tobacco notes. Sweet-bitter arrival, raw, again bitter honey, almonds, quite bright and young. Even though the wood influence is evident it’s not really integrated with the distillate yet. A couple of more years of magic would have been great. 

The finish is medium in length, bright as the distillate takes charge. Some salt vanilla and caramel are in the background. Nice overall, the first two releases “shareholders edition” and “Svaide” was better but this is a good release as well. If tested blind, I would have guessed a young bruichladdich with more spice than usual. And that’s a good judgement since that is one of my favorite destilleries. 

(Rating interval 80-83)

Distillery notes:

Color: Pale gold

Nose: Plum, oak, vanilla and cinnamon

Taste: Vanilla, honey and oak

Finish: Chestnut, oakish with some sweetness, licorice and a peppery finish