MILK & HONEY Ex-Islay Single Cask Conquête

Nose : rich, heady. On the first nose, intense smoke envelops a dry peat. The scene is set. Allowed to breathe, the peat becomes more oily and greasy, bursting with sea spray, salt and iodine. Gradually spices (pepper) and very tangible grains of salt appear alongside medicinal notes (camphor, merbromine). Hydrocarbon aromas draw out this empyreumatic development.

Appearance : or pâle.

Palate : dense, full-bodied. On the attack, grains of peated malted barley literally flood the palate. In the backwash, silt, seaweed, shellfish as well as candied citrus fruit (lemon, grapefruit), fresh walnut and fresh fruits (apple, pear) rise to the surface of the flavour palette. A beautiful chocolate, mentholated and creamy (flan, Normandy tart) end to the palate.

Overall : long, concentrated. With a very pleasant herbaceous (bamboo, reed) and vanilla freshness, the start of the finish reveals a chocolate peat that fits in perfectly with the accompanying fruity, roasted (black tea) and floral (lily, violet) flavours. Exotic fruits (banana, pineapple, passion fruit) transcend the very end of the finish and the retro-nasal olfaction. The empty glass is camphoric, spicy (clove, ginger) and liquorice.