Official Tasting Notes:
Appearance: Pale amber. Attractive medium beading.
Nose: Opens keen, fresh and minerally, as with scented bath-salts or a tart cheese-cake. Behind this lies a soft malty or fudge-like note, like that cheesecake’s crisp base. It is soon joined by the faintest balancing acidity in the shape of familiar Caol Ila beach smells, here of dried salty seaweed. Later, some oat cereal. Water releases more fresh crunchy cereal (muesli biscuits) then introduces an intriguing but brief trace of mentholated sweets, before the tasteheads once again for the beach
Body: Medium, rich.
Palate: Rich, oily-smooth and sweet, with creamy fudge, and also alive with crushed black peppercorns: fresh and invigorating. Fewer fruity notes than younger versions. Water brings a softer, pleasing mouth-feel. Predominantly sweet, with crisper, salty notes and some dry acidity to keep things fresh, clean and by the sea.
Finish: Crisp and clean, with a tongue-tingling after-taste (bitter-sweet plum tart) and a warming, medicinal after-sensation.