Draft sample @ Oersoep Bierfest 2015, Nijmegen. Cuivrée présentant un léger toruble, col fin beige et crémeux. Arôme met en avant un bouquet agréable de fruits rouges sur une fine note de barrique dont les effluves tourbes restant assez discrètes mais n’enlevant en rien du caractère tourbé de Islay. Palais met de suite en avant les 13% mais dont l’élément dominant de tourbe reste modéré. Le tout est sec, finement liquoreux et collant aux lèvres avec un léger côté caramel. Je relève un léger profil fruité rouge avec sur la fin une pointe chocolatée. Un barley qui ne joue pas à fond la carte du tourbé mais qui reste très approchable pour des non-initiés ou non fans de ce style Islay.

Bottle in the hotel. Pours deep brown, nose is coconut, peat, caramel, fruity, taste is similar, dry, not too boozy for the abv.

330 ml bottle Pours a deep reddish mahogany with light head. Aromas of whiskey, grass, dark fruit and sweet malts. Flavors of caramel, whiskey liqueur, tobacco, and toasted malts. Dry and somewhat bready. Whiskey barrel well integrated - it’s there but not overpowering. Very nice

330 ml. bottle. Purchased @ De Bierkoning. Bottled on 27.03.15. Very, very dark red copper hued brown, basically no head, only a small tanned ring around the sides. Nose is very thick sweet caramelized apple, syrup, maraschino cherry, syrupy red apple, very sweet spices, cinnamon, spirit, I expected a huge amount of peat, luckily I am not getting that, oddly I am getting almost none, it is big on spirit, huge whisky, just not the peated kind, I almost need to imagine the peat. Taste is big alcohol, very sweet syrup, molasses, very sweet & sticky, big oak, coffee, light varnish, raisin, huge whisky & whisky alcohol, not getting really peat again, sweetness is huge, light cough syrup, cinnamon, huge spirit, spirit caramelized apple, overripe dark fruit, light varnish, big syrup, light molasses, very big whisky finish with alcohol, getting only very light peat in the finish (which I suppose is good – the sweetness of the base beer blocks it out quite a bit)… Very syrupy with alcohol body, light sparkling carbonation. Even less complex than the already very simple Auchroisk version. Still fun as a very syrupy & sweet boozy / whisky rich beer. I don’t feel like the whisky used here worked optimally.