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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: Herbal notes, with hints of vanilla and pear. Rich Turkish coffee mingles with honey-glazed ham lurking in the background. Fennel, scents of aniseed, green apple and leather. A sharp tang of smoke and a crack of fresh black pepper.
Palate: Rich, explosive mouthfeel bursts forth with chocolate and tar. A powerful blast of eucalyptus with antiseptic lozenges and aniseed. Raw, smoky intensity before smoked bacon and savoury meats sink into the palate.
Finish: The long, briny, salty mouthcoating finish retreats, with hints of cocoa and fudge slinking slowly away.
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