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Blackadder Smoking Islay (Rum Cask) Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Islay, SCOTLAND
$180. 00
Bottle
$2160.00 Dozen
ABV: 60.5%
Blackadder proprietor, Robin Tucek, is on a mission against the 'amelioration' of whisky - be it via chill filtration or the addition of caramel to add colour, he's dead against it. Tucek's Blackadder selection aims to keep your whisky experience as authentic as possible. The opening rant on his company website is not only informative, but makes good sense to anyone interested in getting the most for their whisky dollar.

He writes, "Most malt whiskies bottled by the distillery owners are a marriage of several different casks. These big cask vattings are then often chill-filtered and coloured with the addition of varying amounts of caramel before being bottled. Even whiskies that are not chill-filtered are normally bright-filtered. Chill-filtration - when the spirit is chilled to freezing point or below prior to bottling - is done for cosmetic reasons, as it removes any possibility of cloudiness. Unfortunately, it also removes many of the natural fats, oils and flavours in the whisky which in turn removes a great deal of the individual character of a whisky as the esters, or flavour congeners, in the spirit tend to gather around these fats. The more a whisky is chilled when filtering, therefore, the greater the proportion of fats and esters are removed. And caramel has its own flavour, which is added to that of the whisky. In fact, the majority of malt whiskies are treated in this way when bottled. Bright filtering also removes a large part of these fats and esters with losses of around two to three percent of the cask volume when bottling".

Single Casks of fine non-filtered, non-coloured single malt whiskies are nowadays becoming rather hard to track down. Indeed, casks of some of the more celebrated and powerfully flavoured malts are becoming like hen’s teeth to get hold of. But when you do manage to track down one of these rare masterpieces... wow! Then you know what you have been missing. "Smoking Islay" is, as the name suggests, dedicated to all the hardcore peat freaks out there. Loads of smoke, but this time with a twist - smoke & rum and at full cask strength!! Rum cask maturation and a bucket load of alcohol. 60.5% Alc./Vol. Now we're talking!!

Tasting note: Very pale straw almost water like appearance. Muted opening aroma offers hints of damp wool and smoked fish. A cocoa- hazelnut accent enters in the second stage but the overall intensity remains fairly subdued. Much more expressive in the mouth with robust grassy, peaty, sweet-earthy notes and a gently nippy spirit, followed by distinctive sweet tobacco flavours at the finish. Terrific purity and balance. Put this up against your favourite cigar. 60.5% Alc./Vol.