Islay Single Malt 30 Year Old 1990 The Whisky Jury

Argh... Joeri, you're keeping us in suspense again by not revealing which Islay distillery this 30-year-old hails from. Anyway, then we'll leave that in the middle. Distilled in 1990, this malt can already come to the fore with a maturation of no less than three decades. You don't come across that so often, do you? Let me get straight to work.

Pleasant, somewhat understated and surprisingly (well, after 30 years) fruity nose on orange, pineapple and quite a bit of lime. After a few minutes in the glass (it’s worth it!) it actually becomes tropical! Apricots, grapefruit, mango. Delicious. In the background I get a salty breeze and a nice touch of white pepper, dark honey and sweet barley sugars.

Oh, my! If taste was a sculpture, then this malt was created by Michelangelo! Chiseled is the word I’m looking for. Clean. Razor sharp but oh so delicate at the same time. A cartload of fruits, tropical like on the nose with even more lime, some soft herbs and an unexpected hint of potpourri. And in the meantime, the peat provides a nice smoke development that will not dominate at any time, but makes the distillate shine.

That potpourri translates into a floral, slightly perfumed finish that is nice and spicy and continues to reverberate for a long time. The smoke lingers, but is delicate and graceful.

Wow, what a great malt! My brain whispers Caol Ila to me, but I really don't know for sure. Sister cask #4404302 – which yielded 242 bottles at 49.8% – was bottled exclusively for Singapore. This gem puts you back about 290 EUR, but that's spent with pleasure!