Tobermory 21yo 1995/2017 (49%, Acorn Japanese Mountains Great & Small, Hogshead, C#594): nose: ooft! It is an austere one, bone-dry to the point it is almost ashy. It even has medicinal notes: gauze, tincture of iodine, hospital corridors and neoprene. A minute of breathing gives it an almost peaty profile, with dark pipe tobacco, gunpowder and spent fireworks. There is a thin, nearly transparent veneer of apple peels, but make no mistake: this is not an orchard-y Tob' at all. It is closer to brandy, kept in a bucket previously used for soot. I even wonder if it has a leathery side to it -- in which case, it is freshly-marked cattle. Green grapes, unripe hazelnut and cabbage water round off the nose. Mouth: a pinch of caster sugar over what seems to amount to a field of ash (no, not talking about Kate). It strikes a perilous-if-successful balance between the undeniable austerity and more welcoming, sweeter tones. Golden apples, cut quince, chalky pear and Lyle's Golden Syrup, green grapes and hazelnut, both unripe, battle with surgical spirits, incense ash, germolene and carbolic. Finish: thin ans warming, very warming. It picks up where the palate stopped, with orchard fruit and a pinch of ash, accompanied by a glass of dry white wine. The more I drink it, the sweeter it becomes, but it remains sharp and not exactly easily accessible. I am not usually a big fan of this sort of naked spirits, but it does work, here. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, MN)
Kornog Sant Erwan b.2016 (50%, OB, 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel, 275b): nose: holy smoke! I can smell peat, yet it is transfigured, metamorphosed into berry jam. Smoked strawberry jam, raspberry compote, lingonberry compote, cut peaches in sangria, all the while presenting a farm-y aspect as well: farmland paths, farmyards and ploughed fields in the summer sun flirt with pineapple chunks, Haribo sweets and Gummibärchen. The fruit is almost chemical, now, but that causes no concern whatsoever. Mouth: more of those chewy, fruity sweets, with some subtle smoke in the background barely stating its presence. It is mostly strawberry and raspberry compotes, chewy sweets with the same, that one would eat around a camp fire (haaaaaay!) Lashes of pineapple (drops, this time) appear on the side of the mouth, which is as welcome as it is surprising. The smoke is very much in the back seat, though well present. Finish: the great gig continues, an infernal ballet of refined smoke and candied fruit in a chewy-sweet fashion, Gummibärchen-style. Strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, Kola Kubes, burnt fruit-tree wood, cauldrons of jams on an old-school wood fire and... peanut shells, almond skins, meaning a soft bitterness. In fact, I would go further and call it Amaretto, with its bitterness and its sweetness. Is this good, or what! 9/10 (Thanks for the sample, Steph2A)
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