Kilchoman Machir Bay 2013 Release

This year’s bottling mixes 4 and 5 year old bourbon casks with the younger element finished in oloroso, though this is hardly sherried. Here is smoke, samphire, and Kilchoman’s fleshy core giving echoes of 80s cuisine: scallops and white peaches anyone? Watering shows sea-washed rock, light flowers, and hot sand. The palate is sweet, sour, and smoky, with a chalky edge and a peppery palate, but water releases blossom and a little gunsmoke: a duel in the dunes? £39