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Nose: Immediately quite soft with clean, fresh notes, faint hints of milk chocolate and lemon and then developing fragrant tea-scented smoke alongside nose-drying, maritime aromas, with subtle cereal. A prickliness seen earlier now develops, while the trademark Lagavulin dryness emerges as fresh newsprint. Softly sooty. Softer, fuller and more rounded with water: it's not hugely fruity but there's just a trace of red berry preserve, perhaps, beneath the smokiness, which comes sharply into focus.
Palate: A soothing light texture, with a magnificently full-on Lagavulin taste that's somehow even bigger than you expect; sweet, smoky and warming, with a growing, smoky pungency, then dry, with more smoke. Charred, with minty, dark chocolate. Beautifully balanced midpalate then salty, oven-charred baked potato skins and smoke. Water rounds things, the taste still mighty yet more succulent, sweeter, spicier and now tongue-tingling, mint-fresh and warming.
Finish: Lovely; clean, very long and smoky. Smoothly, subtle minted smoke surrounds chocolate tannins, leaving a late drying note to emerge in time. It's warming, soft and still smoky with water, not as long or intense now, yet still leaving the palate dry as sweet smoke lingers on the breath.
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Nose: Calm marine smoke brings a balance in the combination of oak, smoke and spirit. It is dry, earthy, peatash with waves of golden caramel, fudge, vanilla custard, hints of ginger, nutmeg and clove. There is citrus fruit, gentle lemon meringue and clementine. Floral aromas of wild thyme and heather.
Palate: There is delicacy and softness in texture and style. Smoke wraps loosely around the sweetness drawn from deep within the oak. Coconut, vanilla custard, lemon honey combines with smoked oysters and sun baked salty sand.
Finish: Smoky but also the soft sweetness of fudge and malted barley, orange, mango and oak. Many layers interchange on each sip. Notes of ripe apple and apricot, beautifully intertwined with malt and oak sweetness.
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