Rich, chewy, but also spicy and oaky, this is a very unique single malt from an elusive Speyside distillery, enriched by a finish for 16 months in a first fill Pedro Ximenez barrel. Already from the deep mahogany colour, it’s obvious that the oak had great influence on this botting! At the nose it’s quite sweet but also aromatic: raisins, dried plums, but also camphor and old furniture. There is a pleasantly bitter hint of cocoa and coffee, too. At the palate, the initial attack is rather tannic and oaky: not sharp, but definitely on notes of deeply roasted coffee, with a hint of quinine. It then remains dark, on notes of herbal liqueur and toasted bread, but slowly (especially with water) the underlying creamy sweetness shines through: raisins, cola, toffee, chocolate. In the end, the important tannic presence is felt again with a blast of pepper.