A superbly balanced blended malt. A strong portion of sherry sweetness paired with a finely dosed portion of smoke. Altogether quite complex and in constant change. Chocolate and coffee notes can be found as well as the typical sherry fruit flavors. Among other things, some leather, a hint of tobacco and some oak as the opposite pole. The smoke is not intrusive, but clear. The alcohol level is also very appropriate: high enough to push all the aromas forward, but without alcohol or burning. Top!

Sherry, Spices, Peat

The Dark Side of Islay series from Malts of Scotland currently consist of 4 releases: Scarabus from 2016, Octovulin from 2017, this Mulindry from 2018 and the 2020 release of Ardenistiel. These are all blended malts that consist of – obviously – malts from Islay. I tried the Scarabus end of 2018 and thought it was divine. Now the Mulindry sits in my glass, named after the Mulindry Farm, just north of Bowmore and close to Bridgend.

Leather and tobacco, dried fruit like figs and dates, mild smoke and quite some spices like coriander, cloves and cinnamon. Pretty herbal indeed. Dark chocolate and toffee start to dominate and hide the fruit a little, but all in all this is a very pleasant, dark & sweet and very sherried nose.

Nicely oily and immediately sweet on dried fruit, raisins and sherry. Hazelnuts, nougat, espresso and chocolate precede the spices. And those are aplenty: cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. Feels almost like I’m drinking spicy sherry, if not for the lovely smoke – which does not dominate by the way.

The long finish starts off quite sweet, fruity and very smoky, but then quickly evolves towards dry and even a tad salty. At the death, it’s all about smoke.

Intense blended malt that enjoys three sides: sherry, spices, peat. Wonderful winter dram.

Very good, no doubt, but in my book less so than the first edition (Scarabus).
A little surprised about average rating (above 91 at time of writing) to be honest. I'm more of a high scorer usually, but 89 seems a honest scoring when compared to other high-level Whiskies I've been tasting today.

Whole bottle distributed and here, too, never wrote notes, although I remembered that it tasted super good ... Then with the last two 2 cl ... 3 different Islay Malts from three different types of barrel were married here (all sweet wine? ). Slightly smoky on the nose, very sweet and pronounced notes of dried fruit. These notes are also reflected in the mouth, plus something slightly fermented musty. As a missing note, something acidic irritates me, a bit like overripe, slightly rotten mango. This is a bit annoying, but luckily it is cushioned by the smoke and the drier sherry notes. I didn't have a memory like that, maybe the sample is also a bit heavily oxidized, has been around for over a year now ... But overall still very fine blend. Above all, the spice in the finish is outstanding and very salivating. Looks younger than 22-26 years, but makes a lot of joy apart from the slightly sour but subtle missing note (in my old sample). 89 points

22 + 23 + 23 + 22 = 90
Chic dragon!