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]

this 10 yr old is noe that bad (the phroaig prince)

43%
light amber. burnt/grilled seaweed (sushi bar?), hint of pear, smoke,burnt rubber?, peat, iodine on the nose. big and rich palate [dried seaweed, malt, smoke/burnt toast?]. salty, especially with a little water. long finish, smoke, peat, iodine and malt lingers. warming. slight alcohol burn.

40% (this is all that's available at duty free shops now...)
very similar to the 43, what did you expect? but not so rich and mouthfilling.

this pleb likes the stuff ... specially with friends after a hard day. medicinal?... too right ... and all the better for it. for those less enamoured, there's always the other nice stuff from the mainland.

cheers and BANG!