Some part of guessing this one right was easy as it could be. Others, not so much.

Sniff:

Ardbeg 11, 55.4%, SMWS. Image from Whiskybase

A big smack of peat. South Islay style. And I don’t mean Laphroaig either. Salty, briny, sea weed. Heavy actually, as in, not so many light flavours.

Sip:
Definetly cask strength. It bites like a mastiff. Peat, heavy style again. salt, tea, a heavy kind of heather. Vanilla, old lemon, some wood and old cracking leather.

Swallow:
The finish is more gentle than I expected and lasts for a very long time. Peat, the heavy heather again and wood.

Lagavulin? Ardbeg? Lagavulin? Ardbeg? Lagavulin? Ardbeg? I don’t know. It doesn’t match any of the more recent Ardbeg bottlings I’ve tried, and with the heavier style I veer towards Lagavulin, but which one could it be then? There’s no bottlings to be found apart form the distillery’s own. I pick the Lagavulin 12 cask strength from last year.

Of course, I should have known, it was an Ardbeg. 11 years old, bottled for the SMWS and called “Man, that’s braw!”. Refill ex-sherry butt could mean anything apart from that we know there has been sherry in there at some point. Ex-sherry usually means it’s been used for whisky before. Refill means that too. So two whisky runs already? Anyway, 55.4%.