A marriage of earth and sea: Armore distillery makes a very peated malt that is so different in style from the coastal ones. We decided to let two worlds shake hands, by letting this smoky Speyside malt rest in casks which had previously contained equally smoky whisky from an Islay distillery, just for the curiosity of finding the perfect equilibrium between the two different styles. The Speyside whisky of course still dominates with its typical toffee notes, its fruitiness of bananas, lemon peel and apples well noticeable behind the peat. But it’s immediately evident both at nose and palate that there’s something more: a slightly drier character, a whiff of salty maritime influence. And can we also say that the interaction brought out a particularly breezy note of flowers and a springtime fragrance? The use of second fill casks allows the distillate to remain clean and to speak boldly without too much oak influence. The result is powerful, intense, and yet refined.