CAOL ILA 33 ans 1984 LMDW Cellar Book Gordon & Macphail

Nose : rich, complex. On the initial nose, a medicinal (iodine tincture), spicy (ginger, cinnamon, clove), salty and floral (heather, violet) peat beams beautifully. Gradually it becomes fruity (apricot), honeyed and jammy (marmalade). Then, an intense smoke mixed with chocolate chips floods the air. As a whole, it shows incredible elegance and expresses a delicate minerality._x000D_ _x000D_

Palate : powerful, firm. In turn peaty, medicinal and salty, the attack adds even more spices to the mix (black pepper, saffron). On the mid-palate, the smoke ensures a particularly confident relay (Havana cigar, incense) before the flavours become increasingly floral (peony, pale lilac). At the very end of the palate, wild strawberry, bramble and candied apricot add an original rhythm to the palette of flavours that had seemed to have centred entirely on peat and smoke._x000D_

Overall : balanced, silky. A note of bourbon vanilla gives the finish lots of unctuousness and elegance. With impressive length, it lingers on notes of root ginger, Jerusalem artichoke and melon. Gradually, cocoa and coffee beans take possession of the palate. The retro-nasal olfaction wavers between full-bodied, almost oily peat and smoky, floral peat. The very concentrated empty glass is peaty, smoky, floral, sweet (beeswax) and spicy._x000D_