Michel Couvreur Candid (Malt)

For years I had seen here and there bottles of a very peculiar brand name, and of a very peculiar bottle design, of Scottish malt whisky. I used to examine these bottles closely to make sure that they really belonged in the Scotch Whisky section of the liquor stores. Yes, it said, these Michel Couvreur bottles really were of single malt Scotch whisky, though I could never quite figure out at which distillery they were made. That was because these were sourced whiskies, and the distilleries of origin were not listed. I was very pleased when my friend @CognacFan brought out a bottle from Michel Couvreur for me to try. Thanks to @CognacFan for the reviewed sample

Michel Couvreur was a Belgian-born independent procurer, ager, and bottler of Scottish whiskies who died at the age of 85 in 2013. Michel Couvreur aged the whiskies which he had procured in his own cellars in Bouze-les-Beaune, in Burgundy, France. Candid is an Islay malt of undisclosed distillery and without an age statement. It is from a vatting of four Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry casks

When I first tasted Candid, @CognacFan asked me to guess at which distillery it was produced. It was obvious to me in 5 to 10 seconds that there was only one possible distillery at which Candid could have been was produced. He then informed me that most opinions about Candid agreed with my assessment

Nose: leather, sherry, medium peat and smoke; the sherry influence is very well integrated with the peated malt. The peat is mild, smooth, and a combination of bitter and sweet. This is a very lovely nose. Water added emphasises the wine and fuses the flavours. The nose remains very pleasant with water added

Taste: the nose flavours of both the sherry wine and of the peat and smoke translate with increased sharpness and increased intensity to the palate. Water added dilutes the flavours and fuses them together. Candid is tasty with water but I prefer it without water

Finish: the smoke and peat become stronger going into the finish; the length of finish is medium for the sherry flavours, but long for the peat, smoke and malt flavours. The finish shifts toward the sour by the end. With water the finish is less noticeably sour, but I would still prefer to drink this without water

Balance: leather, medium sweet and bitter peat and smoke...this unspecified Islay distillery has to be Bowmore. Michel Couvreur preferred to use sherry casks for all of his malts, and he has done an excellent job of deciding on high quality casks for this malt, and also of deciding when the whisky was mature. The age of this whisky? Others have estimated 7-8 years. That seems possible to me...I doubt that this could be older than 10 years old, but the PX aging has made this relatively young product quite rich. If not for the sourness of the finish, this whisky would have no significant shortcomings