Also read LOCHLEA SOWING EDITION

So how did John Campbell's team choose to reflect the harvest?

According to David FERGUSSON who introduced it to me recently, in the LOWLANDS the harvests resemble a judicious mix of whisky passed through ex-BOURBON, PORTO and SHERRY OLOROSSO casks. What to bring mixtures of sweetness, sugar and spices!

So what about it?

On the nose we discover notes of caramelised apples and fresh woody notes, but already we can feel a volley of spices.

And it's the latter that arrive on the second pass, covering the nose with peppery notes and the heat of a field in summer as the harvester comes to cut the barley stalks to separate the grains that will soon be malted and distilled.

 On the third pass the fire calms down and we note the return of calmer notes of pear on a background of hay.

If we project a little (I like to project), we can find that this nose is indeed that of a harvest: the first nose announces that it is time to go and cut the barley, the second cuts it and the third takes us for a walk in the field once it has been harvested.

The hay will come out when you slip a few drops of the distillate into the palm of your hand.

On the palate, it is very mellow from the start, with a taste of ripe apple accompanied by sweet and dense notes.

But that's without counting on our friends the spices (d'oloroso) which then come to make a noticeable turn in the mouth by lining the palate and the tongue with peppery and spicy notes. After a few seconds, even if the peppery notes still make inroads, it will become clearly honeyed, and will even leave notes of fresh grass.

The descent will be in two stages. First of all sweetness and then a great heat.

The finish is quite long on a broad heat with vinous notes in the mouth.

I'll be back soon, I promise you, for the third episode, the FALLOW EDITION (the "purple") and especially the fourth PLOUGHING EDITION, which is said to be peaty!