Cask No. 53.281

Cask No. 53.281                         

A day at the seaside

Islay

You are at the seaside – by the pier, lobster pots, tarry ropes, scallop boats – the tide is out, exposing seaweed – there is an ice-cream van, vanilla and wafers – a café nearby, serving seafood and walnut cake – someone is smoking a cigar and a child has hurt her knee – antiseptic cream and bandages. The palate combines chalky sweets and ginger snaps with savoury notes (salt and pepper squid, prawn cocktail) and smoke and ash; there is also the medicinal stimulation of liquorice lozenges, smokers’ tooth powder, Buckley’s cough syrup and Fernet Branca. Its cocky youthfulness leaves lip-smacking satisfaction and fire in the belly.