All the usual smoky characteristics were there – TCP, elastoplasts, creosote, tar, and a bothy after the fire died – but we also got smoked almonds, honey-glazed ham, sweet heather and perfumed soap. The palate was undoubtedly big, even tongue-roasting – sweet and salty with ash, tar, kiln smoke, aniseed and liquorice allsorts. The reduced nose evoked spun sugar, pralines, rosemary, straw, coal scuttles and bonfires. The palate, even with a good splash of water, remained intense, with good sweetness (caramel, syrup, Horlicks, honey-roasted carrots) and some barbecued meat that fell in the ash, perhaps served with caramelized onions. From Islay’s biggest distillery.