no grape tonight

friends wanted to do some barley instead. following were at hand.

1)aberlour a'bunadh batch #17 nas 60.2% [700ml] (speyside)
deep burnt orange; sherry, chocolate(?), candied fruit, fruitcake, nougat, did i say sherry?; follows onto palate, malt, bit of wood; sweet entry, rich, mouthfilling, smooth but with an underlying alcoholic burn (had it with a coupla drops of water); long

2)laphroig 10yr 43% [750ml] (islay)
as before, smoke, seaweed, peat and iodine to the fore (hey, where's the teka maki?) but this time had an oatlike flavour running thru ... nice [earlier]