A very lean, smoky and crisp nose at first. Things like hot bakelite, bacon fries, smouldering garden bonfires, match boxes and old tool boxes. Hints of sheep wool, cured meats, salt and pepper crisps and – unusually for an English whisky – Haggis pakora! The peat is sinewy, pure and powerful but arrives in a velvet glove.
Water unveils preserved lemons in brine, antiseptic and disinfected hospital corridors. The sharpness of citrus and salinity tango perfectly. The mouth is restrained at first – simmering almost. But then bursts open with a white hot blade of peat, buckets of smouldering leaves, ashes, soot and peppered mackerel. A big mix of tar, brine and hessian. With water there’s now hints of iodine, brake fluid, WD40 and marmite spread generously on brown toast.