The Panel felt this was a gorgeous and evocative nose full of white coastal flowers, chalk, lemon pith, sandalwood, green muddled herbs, a tang of sea air and a kiss of peat smoke. We also noted Earl Grey tea leaves and limestone. Some water brought out wintergreen, burlap, heather honey, shilling beers and olive oil.

When neat, the palate was beautifully peaty in an understated and very classy fashion; lots of soft, heathery and herbal Orcadian peat, then olive bread, herbal teas, sandalwood, bonfire embers and seaweed crackers. Reduction brought a light sootiness, some peat embers, bandages and gently refreshing briny qualities, with some lovely beeswax notes in the aftertaste. At eight years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.