Beinn Narnain Blended Scotch (40%, Lambert Brothers The Munro's): nose: this one is briny too -- OME in full effect. Despite that, something also makes its way to the surface, and that something is cracked black pepper on juicy melon (watermelon, to be accurate). The pepper is huge, and there is a bold note of cardboard to boot, yet it definitely has juice. In fact, shortly later on, peach juice materialises, next to the peppery watermelon. Far in the back, sweet lozenges rock up, lightly mentholated. At second nosing, mostly only the brine remains, it seems. Perhaps there is now an old wooden plank, dusty and dry. The juicy sweetness returns all the same. Mouth: another one where the sweetness is strong and bold, yet balanced out by a gingery heat -- this time, it is a ginger paste. The texture is that of yoghurt. The mouth sees a distant bitter touch, not sharp enough to think of liquorice; is it some kind of aniseed paste? Or angelica? Something like that. It even has a whisper of black cumin seeds, which suggests a mild toasted touch. Oh! and the black pepper is still there too, spicing up the big picture. Finish: sweet and woody, here are all sorts of old-school, chewy sweets: candied Seville-orange rind, stem ginger and candied angelica, but also thick furniture wax, so thick one would mistake it for honey. The bitter note is present, if harder to find, choked by the candied sweetness. It is not sickly, but it is also not far from corn-syrup cloying. Lastly, this finish feels as though chewing on a vanilla pod: intense, a tad too bitter, and not at all like vanilla ice cream. This one is my favourite, so far, even if I cannot see myself drinking litres of it. 7/10 (Thanks for the dram, JS)
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