Taster

Nose: Very appetising. Fresh sea air. Salty. Seaweed on the rocks. Fragrant, smoky.

Palate: Oily, tarry, chewy. Very spicy indeed. Stinging flavours. Lots of flavour development. Grassiness. Gorse. Flowering currant. Sweet mustard.

Finish: Pepper. Hot mustard. Grainy. Cumin.

Comment: A lovely coastal malt. It's a shame that its surviving brother Clynelish is more muted.

Score: 8.5

Taster

Nose: Bracing and intense. Sea-spray and sawdust and the lightest of smoke. Marvellously evocative and appealing.

Palate: Fat, massively bodied with powerful peat that was missing on the nose. The saltiness seeps through and the malts remains clean and chewy.

Finish: Intense vanilla and then drier oaky tones battle against the lingering sweet peat.

Comment: What a fabulous whisky of extraordinary complexity and wonderful balance. Masterful.

Score: 9