An Islay Distillery 1990, Nanyang Whisky and REJO Beverages

Colour: pale gold. Nose: a superbly fat and camphory style of peat smoke, almost leathery with these great textural impressions! Salted liquorice, tar liqueur, ointments, shoe polish and hints of mustard powder. Really stunning! With water: lemon cough drops, tarred beach wood, smoked mead, bonfire embers and lanolin. Still deep and superbly dense. Mouth: immediate power and surprisingly big peat! Lots of tar and iodine, bandages, grapefruit, more hessian vibes and a palate that certainly follows through on these more fat and textural impressions that were on the nose. With water: a little saltier and tad sharper here and there, but otherwise the same fantastically fat and perfectly mature whisky! Finish: long, camphory, tarry, medicinal and with this gorgeous lingering peat smoke in the aftertaste. Comments: will someone keep a cask or two of this juice until it turns 40yo? Would seem like a smart move if you can afford to sit on it. SGP: 467 - 91 points.

Nose: slightly more wool comes out, as well as waxed papers. Seaweed and oysters too, but it doesn’t evoke a medicine cabinet like the other one. At least not right away, it stays on mentholated notes, with hints of apricot jam in the distance. Then also shoe polish and herbal cream.

Mouth: again fatter and fruitier than the Swell de Spirits version. Papaya and mango stand out, with vanilla cream, yellow apples and sweet grapefruit. Also more smoke than the nose suggested. Then plenty of ashes, hints of hessian and charcoal.

Finish: long, salty and camphory now. Peat smoke and lemon peels in the end.

I love the oily, fatty texture of this one. It works so nicely alongside creamy tropical fruit. The SdS bottling was very good, but this simply offers a tad more. Score: 91/100