Nose:
Mineral and herbaceous with a sour side of green apple. Clear notes of beeswax and propolis.
Some fruit in the form of pear, apple, tangerine. Grated orange peel.
Mouth:
Quite burning pure, personally too much alcoholic for me when starting out.
With a few drops of water on the drum, the malt opens up nicely.
Very, very oily in the mouth and there is a lot to discover.
Waxy honey notes (dark honey), fruit notes of mirabelle plum, quince and apple, some tangerine. A note of herbal tea (sage and rosemary).
Diluted to about 46%, the fruity side comes out really strong.
Finish:
With a few drops of water, it is more oak-accentuated, and with around 48% it comes across as nicely fruity and waxy, with only a slight bitterness.
90/100
Conclusion:
A malt that only works properly for me with water. From my point of view, a good example of the fact that it is not always necessary to use cask strength or that this is not always optimal.
However, the joy of experimentation is rewarded with a really great, versatile and multi-layered malt. Even if the label is ambiguous with regard to the distillery, we tend to a distillery from Sutherland.
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After trying it several times and making a direct comparison with a supposed sister barrel, I revise it from 91 to 90 points