Whisky Discovery #62

SMWS 33.115 'Man That's Braw' 11 Year Old (55.4% abv, Single Cask)
Islay Single Malt Whisky
Club bottling, not for general sale

Dram No.18 at at the Whisky Live London Show was enjoyed at the Single Malt Whisky Society Stand (SMWS). 

John McCheyne had told me to come over and say hello during the show, and when we arrived he asked me what my preference was. After telling him I was rather fond of Islay whiskies he popped back to the stand and produced this bottle for us to sample.

John told us that it was an Islay from The Ardbeg Distillery. 

The SMWS don't publicise the distillery, although it is easy to find out from a number of websites. Each distillery is given a number which is the first part of the bottle code, and the second part is the cask number, i.e. this whisky was from the 115th cask they had bottled from the 33rd distillery.

The label read 'Man That's braw!' and was distilled on 31 August 1999 and aged for 11 years in a refill ex-sherry butt , and bottled at cask strength, yeilding 578 bottles.

The bottle label read: The nose was beautifully balanced; varnish, paint, leather, light ash, coal, coarse bread, minty toffee, smoked sugar puffs and shellfish bisque against barbecued pork ribs and char sui pork fried rice. The first comment provoked by the palate was ‘Man, that’s braw!’ – sweet tar, ash, ham and pineapple pizza, leather and pipe tobacco smoke. The reduced nose was a brilliant combination of crispy seaweed, charred red peppers and meringues or spun sugar with strawberry and lemon sorbet. The palate had salty caramel, limes squeezed over oysters and sweet prawns cooked on salt – amazingly rewarding. The last distillery along the Kildalton road.

Drinking tip: While watching the sun go down near a lighthouse

No pictures taken unfortunately, and I was unable to find any photos on line either. It was a very much an Ardbeg and a cracking dram, but there wasn't any more available. You can find out more about the SMWS at their website: www.smws.co.uk