02/06/2023 Poit Dhubh

Poit Dhubh 30yo b.2006 (43%, Pràban na Linne 30th Anniversary Edition, b#230): nose: a deep nose, this, teeming with fortified wines and wine sauces. We have Madeira, tawny Port and Manzanilla Sherry that offer sweetness and leather. Before any sauce can be identified with certainty (let us face it, it is likely Madeira sauce to accompany turkey-breast strips), an elegant smoke rises and wraps the whole; coal smoke, soot, warm ash. Coupled with the wines, it transports one to the smoking room of a gentlemen's club before the 1950s. A portion of caramel flan served with a spoonful of Madeira wine increases that impression (even if dessert was likely never served in the smoking room). Later on, cured meat comes into the frame, though, perhaps surprisingly, it is white meat (turkey-breast strips again), which makes it more discreet, and, therefore, more to my taste. Oh! It goes without saying we have rancio too. Even later, that rancio veers towards a sawmill in the summer, with dry clay floors, sawdust aplenty, and piles of logs waiting to be sawn. The second nose presents a tantalising interplay of smoke and animal musk -- let us call it smoked fox skins. Or it could also be smoked liqueur pralines. In any case, it is lovely. Mouth: initially mellow and voluptuous, it quickly shows some spices on the tongue -- ginger shavings, ground cardamom, grated cassia bark, and crushed juniper berries. One soon gets over the spices, which allows the taste buds to pick up milk-chocolate pralines and smoked Brazil nuts. The second sip is more liqueur-like -- a high-end liqueur made from smoked nuts, rather than regular dross pumped up with sugars. Looking hard, one might detect a melliferous note: extra-dark conifer honey. Suddenly, Chinese black rice vinegar (sans acidity) flashes by. Finish: assertive, not huge, this finish warms the soul. It has a similar spicy character, now augmented with smoked fruity tea -- think: smoked rooibos, or smoked hibiscus, not Lapsang Souchong. That smoky touch is the main takeaway, at the death, though there is a soft bitterness of crushed bay leaves that will prevent a higher score. All in all, it is a marvellous experience, mind. Repeated sipping adds dark honey, pine-tree resin, and distant liquorice for extra enjoyment. Wow. 8/10