1983 is an interesting vintage at Brora’s because after quite some years of relative ‘unpeatiness’, we’ve always found the 1983’s to be quite peaty, as if the old distillery had willed to send a phenolic farewell to the world before being closed down for good. Colour: amber with salmony hues. Nose: beautiful at first sniffs, extremely smoky and sort of ‘sooty’, with very big notes of gunpowder (like when you smell the barrel of a gun that was just shot). All that settles down a bit after one minute or two, leaving more room for some fine sherry notes. Chocolate, blackcurrant jam, orange marmalade, butter and ginger. These notes’ youthfulness may suggest more a finishing than full maturing but I’m most probably wrong. Anyway, this Brora is very “dual’, pure smoke on one side, pure sherry on the other side. Very, very big dram. Mouth: yes, very big, with the sherry striking first this time (jars and jars of orange marmalade) and the smokiness trying to keep up. Notes of very strong black tea, liquorice, salmiak, toffee and prunes, with also quite some pepper and cinnamon. Rough and explosive. Finish: very long, even more concentrated, with even heavier notes of liquorice. Comments: quite monstrous if we may say so. Spectacular in any case, not for the fainthearted (as they say).