SMWS 3.43 / 1989 / 9 Year Old / A Perfect Balance of Smoke & Fruit

An example of what a good cask can do in nine years, the colour of this malt from Islay's capital village overlooking Loch Indaal, is a fine copper hue, like pale mahogany. The nose is full and rich: a beautiful integration of fruit and fresh peat, reminiscent of ginger bread. When water is added, the phenols begin to overtake the fruit -; carbolic and new plastic buckets; zinc oxide and antiseptic cream; an old garden shed, creosoted long ago -; but the balance is retained in the flavour. At natural strength, this is sweet and smoky, finishing with liquorice; wonderfully mouth-filling when water is added, still sweet, but like chewing charred sticks and drying out towards the end. A fine example, although somewhat a-typical, of this distilleries make.