Elements of Islay Peat & Sherry Cask Australian Exclusive Cask Strength Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (500ml)

Oliver Chilton weaves his magic (yet again) in a devilish amalgam of single malts from two Islay distilleries, hand-picked exclusively for the Australian market. Combined in a single sherry hogshead, as with all the 'Elements' range, there is no age statement. The team believe the most important criteria for any whisky is flavour. This release is no exception. Components are kept secret, but just looking at the bottle tells you everything you need; A colour suggesting serious sherry input, matched against even more serious peat (it's called 'Elements of Islay' for a reason); on the side, Chilton's signature confirms the supervision of one of the best blenders in the business. Kicking off with powerful aromas of barbeque, cured meats, menthol rub and lanolin, the nose continues with notes of dark chocolate, raisin cake, prunes, dried orange peel and baking spice. Peat has the upper hand at first, with the early attack combining medicine chest, old leather, walnut shells and Indian spices, finishing with dried fruit cake, walnut brownies, maritime salinity and ashy dryness. Peat and sherry do battle. Multiple tastings are required to fathom a winner, the sherry requiring 10-20 minutes breathing to really compete. The end result is like Islay-style drunken Christmas pudding or smokey Armagnac, drawing comparisons with Laphroaig's PX cask release, or Bowmore's 'Black Rock' - only this is much, much more intense. A genuine blast for Islay freaks that's also in the reach of most wallets, it adds up to a rarely encountered cask-strength oddity. 380 bottles are available for Australia only. 56.8% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.