Another day and another Vintage Malt Company brand. Variety is the spice of life as they say, unless you have an advent calendar it would seem.
The Brand
The Ileach is another brand of independantly bottled single malt from the Vintage Malt Whisky Company. That must mean the source distillery is different to the Finlaggan sourced whisky from yesterdays review. For information on the company behind this brand please also see yesterdays review here.
The only information to add over yesterdays review is to explain the word “Ileach”. It is simply the Gaelic name for the people who live on the island.
The Dram
This is a dram from an unnamed distilley on islay matured in unknown casks for an unknown period of time. Basically nothing is known apart from two things. Namely, it is 40% ABV and the colour is fake. It is however great value at £29.45 and available here
Tasting Notes
Colour – fake tan
Nose – briny and coastal. medicinal and herbal
Palate – thin mouthfeel but very nice. More of the ashy peat from the nose. Slightly sweet after you move past the peat
Finish – Much sweeter and fruitier on the finish. The smoky peat isn’t really there but a new sweet layer has become apparent
Final Thoughts
I like this one quite a lot. It is not breaking new ground in whisky production obviously but what it does it does well. The peat is counter balanced by what I think has been a sherry finish and would be a great bottle for someone wanting to look into peated malts.
So since it is fun to stick your neck out on these things I will guess this is Laphroaig. That TCP smoke and the volume natural of the distillery make me think this is the source. I have not tried the offical Laphroaig “Select” bottling yet but from the reviews I have read I would think there cannot be much difference in those bottles. On special offer in UK supermarkets the Select bottle is available at around £25.
Malted 