53.457 Coal Shards On Clotted Cream

Scotch Malt Whisky Society cask 53.457, Coal Shards on Clotted Cream, is a 9 year old Islay single malt from the Caol Ila distillery (SMWS distillery code 53). Distilled on 3 April 2013, it spent six years in an ex-bourbon hogshead before the Society transferred it to a first-fill American oak oloroso hogshead for the rest of its maturation. It was bottled at a cask strength of 57.2% ABV, with an outturn of 317 bottles. In the Society's Peated flavour profile, it pairs smoke with sweetness: chocolate, toffee and treacle with coal shards on the nose, smoked peanuts in caramel and hoisin on the palate, and smoked bacon, jam and clotted cream once water is added. Like all SMWS bottlings it is unchill-filtered at natural cask strength.

Nose: Milk chocolate and toffee dunked in treacle and crusted with coal shards; water wraps it in smoked bacon glazed with raspberry jam, straight off the barbecue

Palate: Smoked peanuts in caramel, hoisin sauce and root beer; reduced it turns chocolatey with burgundy wine, smoky nuttiness, ointment and clotted cream on rye bread

Serve: Neat, then with a few drops of water; at full cask strength it opens up noticeably with a little dilution.