Typically the concept of Islay single malt and sixteen dollars are not grouped into the same category. While there’s not an age on this bottle which makes the affair a tad more sensical, from the first crack of the bottle it’s certain you’re 16 buckaroos has given you a bit of Islay. However as for how the first sip treats you for you bargain purchase – well – it could be worse.
In truth – it could have been a lot worse. What we actually get is the reason we stumble hungover out of bed to keep doing this every week – because sometimes you find the diamond in the rough. Is this some highly complex and multi-faceted scotch – no, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a damn fine Islay scotch, and then hurrah – it’s cheap as hell.
What they Say: “Bottle Front: THE LOCH OF THE HERRING. The fisherman, traders and travellers who have inhabited SHIELDAIG, the ‘LOCH OF THE HERRING’ over the centuries have rightly considered themselves lucky in life. A taste of this good fortune can still be enjoyed today with every measure of SHIELDAIG fine SCOTCH WHISKY.
Bottle Back: Taking its name from the Old Norse, SHIELDAIG, the ‘LOCH OF THE HERRING’, is truly a wild and beautiful place. The sharp fragrance of pine-studded islands. The flash of silver herring in the dark waters of the loch. The shawls of mist around the shoulders of the nearby Torridon hills.
Raise a glass of SHIELDAIG and you will experience a reflection of this epic landscape in the complex yet balanced flavours of this fine single malt SCOTCH WHISKY.”
Taste: 5.0 – You get that caramel and peat sort of combo at first. Overall it’s not super tasty and is more the lead in act for what comes next.
Aftertaste: 7.0 – Once this hits you, it’s a towering inferno of smokiness, it just keeps going and even a sip of water does little to stop it’s effect. Sure there’s a bit of caramel, peat, and woodly flavors mingled in, but that smoke is what you paid for. So for most that sounds like hell, but if ya like to smoke, well smoke em while ya got em.
Burn/Smooth: 6.5 – It’s honestly a bit nuts how little burn there is in this despite being an unknown year of aging. Oh sure you get the smoke, but there’s really no fire here. In a way it does go down smooth, with a plume of ash smoke rising up after it’s made it’s descent.
Aroma: 6.0 – Make no mistake – the mind will certainly think Islay scotch, but digging into it (get that nose real close ya freaks) the peat is there centerstage, with just a bit of wood and smoke as the backing vocals. It’s not wildly good, but it does the job well enough.
Honesty: 7.0 – Ahh it’s norse, and here we were thinking “Shield at” where? That being said, with as many lochs as you get in Scotland, it’d make sense one is named for a herring. The all caps is a bit dumb. They however don’t wank too hard, and most of it is directed at a place and not themselves. Design isn’t wild, but it’s clean, it works, which is a marker for the contents – just works.
Mixability: 7.0
w/ Rocks: 6.0 – That does mellow out the smoke long enough so you get more of the flavors, the overall affect is a tad more sweet as well. The flavors flow together nicely, and despite the ice it feels more warming as a scotch in this form. An all around interesting take to some H2O.
Rusty Nail: 8.0 – So yeah, as is the case with most Rusty Nails – adjust to meet your scotch. As standard this is a bit sweet, but dial the ratio correctly and you are in for a treat. The flavor of this meshes well with the Drambuie, and the smoke gives it enough character to stand out, making this one of the better Rusty Nails you could make, and since it’s so cheap you don’t even feel bad about using a single malt this way.
Value: 8.0 – Listen, we’ve had scotches this cheap here. The difference is, those were mostly blends, and often had at least one section they did pretty poorly on. However – there’s none here, at worst it’s an average scotch, but it’s 1-trick is pretty good, it can make a damn fine cocktail, and it’s not the mouth burning of propyl. Like this being double the price would still be pretty good.
Google Shop Average: $16
Website: https://www.ianmacleod.com
Reviewer Scores:
BuffaloJern: 7.0
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Metric Score: 46.5/70 |+| Metric Average: 6.64 |+| Reviewer Average: 7.0
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Final Thoughts: Honestly it’s just nice to have something in the back pocket to answer if you get asked – hey a good scotch under 20 bucks. Sure we’d likely would still recommend Grand MacNish 12 year since most folks aren’t about being hit in the face with smoke and peat, but stellar work here Shieldaig. You can be certain that there will be more than a few Rusty Nails in the lounge as we go on. As for you dear reader – what more can we recommend – honestly the only buyer beware here is if you must drink neat and hate smoke – and boy what a weird bird you are.
