Islay 16 Year Old 2006 Red Bag #1 Dramfool

Okay... an Islay whisky that gets a red handbag on the label and is therefore called Red Bag. Nuff said, right? Come on: mix up the letters and you'll know where it comes from. However, I would call it far from typical. Yes, the smokiness is of course characteristic, but it is also floral and hardly shows any fruit. I get malt sugars, heather, honey and sweet and sour peat. And... that smells great if you like this style. Let it spend a few minutes in the glass. It works wonders for this malt. Then you even get something stuffy, as if you are in an old bonded warehouse between the barrels. Nice and oily on the tongue. Soft wood spices precede the peat and associated smoke development and are then followed by a maritime wave of flavors. Malt sugars versus brackish water, while a crispy apple appears in the background. Bold and powerful on the one hand and almost sexy on the other. A female bodybuilder, if you know what I mean (I hope this this doesn't bite me in my backside, because it's just meant to be a metaphor). But on the palate too it’s quite atypical for this house. That's an advantage in this case, believe me. In the finish, the phenols are still most noticeable. Everything else must give way! And it is here that I really recognize the DNA of Ardb... uh... Red Bag. Atypical but very tasty and interesting. Thx, James!