Ian MacLeod's Island Single Malt

 

A surprise sampling from friend Rob Martin, this is an unnamed/anonymous islands distillery released by Ian MacLeod, the company that owns distilleries like Tamdhu, Glengoyne, Rosebank, and labels like Smokehead, As We Get It, and Isle of Skye, along with many other things. A little bird informed Mr. Martin that this was Highland Park, young and fiesty, and released at a nice $40 price point. If had been given this totally blind, and told only that it was an island-based distillery, I would have guessed Ledaig or Talisker, easily. 

I particularly like independent bottlings of Highland Park, so I was eager to check this out. It surprised me by being, as you'll soon discover, a lot more peaty and smoky than I was expecting. Highland Park's official bottlings tend to be lightly peated and quite coastal and fragrant with lots of heather. This ... well, you'll see. While earlier incarnations of this appear to be bottled at 40%, based on whiskybase.com searches, this appears to be bottled at 43% ABV, unknown aging, unknown casking. 

Nose: Coastal, salty, bready/malty, a surprisingly heavy amount of peat and smoke, crystallized ginger, maybe peanut brittle??? Noses much closer to a typical maritime Islay like Ardbeg or Caol Ila than what I associate with the Islands region.

Mouthfeel: Oily, medium bodied.

Palate: Follows the nose closely. Alcohol - a bit hot at first - a coastal salinity, muscular peat, subtle heather, and a surprisingly distinct note of lavender. Vague sweetness that might be fruit. The maltiness falls away on the tongue.

Finish: Lavender, ginger, pepper, peat, smoke

Verdict: This is surprisingly peaty and coastal. If this is a young Highland Park, it's the most muscular, aggressive version of it that I've encountered. It's peated to a level I'd expect to encounter in the Ardbeg 10 Year. The heather and the lavender notes are the only giveaways that this might not be a straight up Islay. 

I've read that previous bottlings of MacLeod's Island Malt were Talisker (Skye) and Ledaig (Mull), so I guess it makes sense to rotate up to Highland Park (Orkney). This is interesting stuff, geared towards peat lovers, and worth exploring at $40.